Palestine power company warns of humanitarian disaster in Gaza

 [ 10/04/2010 - 02:23 PM ]

GAZA, (PIC)--

Executive director of Palestine electricity company Walid Sayel on Saturday warned of a humanitarian disaster in the Gaza Strip after its only power station stopped operating as a result of the depletion of fuel supplies.

In a statement, Sayel appealed to all Arab, Palestinian and international parties to hasten to find a radical solution to the problem of power cuts in Gaza.

He said that the power crisis in Gaza is catastrophic and entails moves by all parties responsible to end it, where the outages black out two-thirds of the residents who need electricity as their need for water and air.

He stressed that the company are conducting intensive efforts and contacts with all parties concerned in order to overcome this obstacle and work on resuming the work in Gaza power station.

In the same context, the European campaign to end the siege called on the Fatah-controlled Palestinian Authority (PA) in Ramallah to assume its responsibility for the power crisis in Gaza, especially after the main power plant stopped working.

“We call on the PA to stop making unreal pretexts to evade its responsibilities and to channel the funds earmarked for the Gaza Strip, which the European Union provided for financing the power fuel in the Strip,” spokesman for the campaign Anwar Gharbi stressed.

“We in the European campaign confirm that we received clear messages from many foreign ministers of the EU states affirming that the funds are transferred to the PA which pledged to be committed to paying for heavy fuel used to operate the power plant,” Gharbi added.

He deplored the PA for using the humanitarian needs of one and a half million people in political wrangling, especially since this behavior could cost hundreds of Palestinians in Gaza their lives.

Two-thirds of Gaza without power

Published today (updated) 10/04/2010 15:45

Gaza – Ma'an –

The sole power generator in the Gaza Strip has completely closed down, the head of the electric company announced Saturday, following a day of unheeded warnings that a humanitarian crisis was at hand.

Walid Sa'ad Sayel, who also heads the Gaza power plant's board of directors, appealed to Arab, international, and Palestinian officials to urgently find a solution to the crisis, which has left two-thirds of the coastal enclave without electricity.

In a statement, Sayel termed the energy crisis "catastrophic," insisting that relevant authorities "rescue the Gazans, who are human beings first and foremost, and they rely on power as much as they need water and air. Without action, we face a humanitarian disaster of unprecedented scale."

Shortages have plagued the power plant since December 2009, when European Union officials handed over responsibility for fuel transfers to the Palestinian Authority, apparently at the PA's request so EU aid could be channeled into civil servant salaries. Ever since the handover, as well as the corresponding closure of the main fuel transfer terminal at Nahal Oz, fuel imports have fallen to 50 percent of recent capacity.

United Nations records show current imports represent just 46 percent of the estimated demand.

In its most recent report, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs listed imports for the last week of March as below half of the weekly fuel needed to fully operate the power plant. Imports have been below need since the Israeli-led siege of Gaza began in 2007, according to the UN report.

In Gaza, Abu Zaida mourns 'tragic isolation'

Published today (updated) 10/04/2010 17:33

Gaza – Ma'an –

Sufian Abu Zaida, a member of Fatah's Revolutionary Council, on Friday described the situation in Gaza as disastrous, the result of the factional division plaguing the occupied Palestinian territories.

"Gaza is separated from the world, in tragic isolation, and its residents live in a state of depression, smiles wiped from their faces," Sufian Abu Zaida told Ma'an in Gaza, which he visited this week for the first time since 2007.

"We have to take two parallel steps, the first of which is to restart efforts to ratify Egypt's proposal and proceed with conciliation. The second is for all parties to stop complicating people's lives," the Fatah official said, "by creating an atmosphere for conciliation ... and end the mutual 'betrayal' rhetoric."

Abu Zaida arrived in Gaza on Thursday on a seven-day visit to the besieged coastal enclave. The visit is his first since Hamas took control of the Strip in 2007. Nevertheless, the official said he had no plans to meet with de facto government officials on the "family related" trip. But Abu Zaida says the unofficial trip will have ramifications for Palestinians seeking to move freely between the West Bank and Gaza.