Gaza blackout crisis over, power plant back to work

Gaza - The two-day blackout crisis in the Gaza Strip, ruled by Islamic Hamas movement, was resolved and the main Gaza power station was back to work on Sunday night, officials in Gaza said.

Yasser al-Wadeya, head of the block of independents in Gaza, told reporters that the crisis was resolved after Gaza Electricity Company transferred 3 million dollars to the Palestinian Authority treasury in the West Bank.

On Friday, the Hamas-ruled Energy Authority in the salient turned off all the turbines of the Gaza power station due to a lack of industrial diesel that operates the power station.

"The blackout crisis had badly affected all sectors of agriculture, industry and health in the Gaza Strip that basically suffers from more than three years of a tight Israeli blockade," said al-Wadeya.

The independent Gaza-based leader held urgent talks with Palestinian factions' representatives including rival Hamas and Fatah movements, where he urged them to find a solution to the crisis.

Since Hamas movement seized control of the enclave by force in June 2007, the Gaza Strip has been suffering from frequent blackouts, where electricity goes off at least six hours per day.

Since Friday, large areas of the Gaza Strip were in complete blackout for 12 hours a day after the Gaza power station was turned off. Hamas government in Gaza and the government in Ramallah traded accusations over the crisis.

Spokesman of the Palestinian government in Ramallah Ghassan al-Khatib told reporters that the government of Hamas in Gaza collects the electricity bills and doesn't pass it on to the Palestinian Authority.

The EU has been funding the industrial diesel that operates the power station, which provides the Gaza Strip with about 33 per cent of electricity. Israel provides the enclave with around 55 per cent and the rest comes from Egypt.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/318141,gaza-blackout-crisis-over-power-plant-back-to-work.html.