Egypt plans to provide all of Gaza's electricity
Egypt plans to provide all of Gaza's electricity
Last update - 20:43 28/02/2008
By The Associated Press
Egypt is working on a plan with the Palestinians to supply all the besieged Gaza Strip's electricity needs and wean it off its reliance on Israel for power, an Egyptian energy official said Thursday.
Earlier this month, Israel began reducing its supply of electricity to the Hamas-ruled coastal strip after the High Court of Justice ruled that doing so would not cause a humanitarian crisis. Israel's plan includes gradually reducing the electricity supply by small increments, in efforts to pressure the Hamas government to prevent Qassam rocket fire from the Strip into southern Israel. So far, Israel has supplied most of the electricity utilized in Gaza.
Under the plan, Egypt - which already supplies a small part of Gaza's electricity - would increase the number of power lines linking it to Gaza and provide Palestinians with some 250 megawatts, said Izzat Ibrahim, a senior official of Sinai's National Electricity Power Company.
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"This capacity is considered as an alternative power for that Israel used to supply," Ibrahim said.
He said Egypt's Electricity Ministry is preparing a study with President Mahmoud Abbas' Palestinian Authority on financing the project and providing equipment to Gaza. The project would take at least six months to implement, he said, though he could not say when it would start.
An official at the ministry confirmed that Egypt was exploring means of providing all of Gaza's electricity needs. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the press, would not give a timeframe for the project.
Ten of the 17 power lines supplying Gaza currently come from Israel, five from a local power plant and two from Egypt. Gaza's consumption increases by about 10 percent a year, and the strip currently needs about 240 megawatts.
The chief of Abbas' Palestinian Energy Authority said Tuesday that the Palestinian Authority hoped to connect more areas of the Gaza Strip to the Egyptian grid. The official, Omar Qattaneh, said the authority has secured financing from the Islamic Development Bank in Saudi Arabia for the $32 million (22 million euro) project. He said bids would be published in the coming days, and the project could be completed in 12 to 18 months.
The proposal would bolster Abbas' claim to represent Gaza. Abbas now rules from the West Bank and wields little control over the Hamas-held Gaza.
Hamas spokesman Taher Nunu also praised the plan, despite the lingering tensions with Abbas' government. "We welcome any project that links us to our Arab brothers and ends our relations with the occupation," he said, referring to Israel. Hamas officials had also raised the idea of boosting power supplies to Gaza with Egypt, he said.
On Wednesday, Jordan began supplying electricity to the town of Jericho in the West Bank for the first time since Israel seized control of the territory during the 1967 Six-Day War. Israel has provided power to the West Bank since then.
http://tinyurl.com/33a2qb
Hamas response / Calculated escalation
Last update - 06:45 28/02/2008
By Amos Harel, Haaretz Correspondent
Hamas responded Wednesday to the assassination of five of its operatives in Khan Yunis with an "object lesson" of some of the means at its disposal. Sderot and the Negev communities came under a murderous barrage of more than 40 Qassam rockets, killing one student at the Sapir College and injuring a number of other people. Ashkelon, a target Hamas strikes less frequently, suffered a number of rockets that managed to disrupt some of the city's electricity.
Ashkelon has been attacked at least five times in the past by long-range Katyushas and Qassams. But until now the rockets have fallen in open areas or the city's southern suburbs. Wednesday's rocket, which fell near the city's Barzilai Medical Center, was a harsh illustration of the fact that tens of thousands more Israelis are now in range of Hamas fire. A major escalation, such as a large-scale Israel Defense Forces ground operation in the Gaza Strip, could bring Hamas strikes on Ashdod, as well.
Those who decided on the targeted killing in Khan Yunis - the prime minister, the defense minister and, it is to be assumed, the foreign minister (standing in for Olmert while he was in Japan) certainly took into account the expected fierce response. Hamas has been trying for some time to create a balance of deterrence with Israel in the Gaza Strip. For every large-scale strike on its people, it has responded in recent months with massive rocket barrages.
The organization especially wants to see targeted assassinations taken out of the equation. Hamas seems to believe that if Israel pays an impossible price for the assassinations, it will avoid them. This is critical issue for Hamas, whose senior political figures are constantly worried about being killed, as were their predecessors, Ahmed Yassin and Abdel Aziz Rantisi. The five Hamas activists who were killed were known to have returned to the Gaza Strip after the wall fell at Rafah, following training in Iran and Syria. The Shin Bet security service hinted that they had undergone intensive training for a special project. Another kidnapping? Long-range rockets? Suicide bombings? Clearly, the theat was serious enough to decide to strike them immediately, even if it meant dozens of rockets on Sderot and Ashkelon.
As in previous rounds of violence, Israel can be expected to deliver a harsh response of its own. However, such action is not immediately expected to include sending large-scale ground forces into the Gaza Strip; preparations for such an operation have not yet been completed. A major ground operation might come in the spring, and even then, Israel will probably prefer dealing with certain areas of the Strip, and to avoid as much as possible a wholesale occupation. In total contrast to Lebanon in 2006, it is impossible to identify at any level - from the cabinet to the Gaza Brigade - a desire to go to war. However every Israeli casualty, especially in Sderot, brings the IDF a little closer to a major operation.
Under the influence of the dramatic media reports, one could forget that only two weeks ago, following the wounding of the Twito brothers in Sderot, we experienced a similar escalation. The tension relaxed, or simply disappeared from the agenda, following the assassination of Hezbollah terror chief Imad Mughniyah in Damascus. This time, too, if no more Israelis are killed, the tension may slowly dissipate. Hamas, at least as it seems for now, does not want to drag Israel into all-out conflict.
http://tinyurl.com/2v5gyw
Last update - 20:43 28/02/2008
By The Associated Press
Egypt is working on a plan with the Palestinians to supply all the besieged Gaza Strip's electricity needs and wean it off its reliance on Israel for power, an Egyptian energy official said Thursday.
Earlier this month, Israel began reducing its supply of electricity to the Hamas-ruled coastal strip after the High Court of Justice ruled that doing so would not cause a humanitarian crisis. Israel's plan includes gradually reducing the electricity supply by small increments, in efforts to pressure the Hamas government to prevent Qassam rocket fire from the Strip into southern Israel. So far, Israel has supplied most of the electricity utilized in Gaza.
Under the plan, Egypt - which already supplies a small part of Gaza's electricity - would increase the number of power lines linking it to Gaza and provide Palestinians with some 250 megawatts, said Izzat Ibrahim, a senior official of Sinai's National Electricity Power Company.
Advertisement
"This capacity is considered as an alternative power for that Israel used to supply," Ibrahim said.
He said Egypt's Electricity Ministry is preparing a study with President Mahmoud Abbas' Palestinian Authority on financing the project and providing equipment to Gaza. The project would take at least six months to implement, he said, though he could not say when it would start.
An official at the ministry confirmed that Egypt was exploring means of providing all of Gaza's electricity needs. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the press, would not give a timeframe for the project.
Ten of the 17 power lines supplying Gaza currently come from Israel, five from a local power plant and two from Egypt. Gaza's consumption increases by about 10 percent a year, and the strip currently needs about 240 megawatts.
The chief of Abbas' Palestinian Energy Authority said Tuesday that the Palestinian Authority hoped to connect more areas of the Gaza Strip to the Egyptian grid. The official, Omar Qattaneh, said the authority has secured financing from the Islamic Development Bank in Saudi Arabia for the $32 million (22 million euro) project. He said bids would be published in the coming days, and the project could be completed in 12 to 18 months.
The proposal would bolster Abbas' claim to represent Gaza. Abbas now rules from the West Bank and wields little control over the Hamas-held Gaza.
Hamas spokesman Taher Nunu also praised the plan, despite the lingering tensions with Abbas' government. "We welcome any project that links us to our Arab brothers and ends our relations with the occupation," he said, referring to Israel. Hamas officials had also raised the idea of boosting power supplies to Gaza with Egypt, he said.
On Wednesday, Jordan began supplying electricity to the town of Jericho in the West Bank for the first time since Israel seized control of the territory during the 1967 Six-Day War. Israel has provided power to the West Bank since then.
http://tinyurl.com/33a2qb
Hamas response / Calculated escalation
Last update - 06:45 28/02/2008
By Amos Harel, Haaretz Correspondent
Hamas responded Wednesday to the assassination of five of its operatives in Khan Yunis with an "object lesson" of some of the means at its disposal. Sderot and the Negev communities came under a murderous barrage of more than 40 Qassam rockets, killing one student at the Sapir College and injuring a number of other people. Ashkelon, a target Hamas strikes less frequently, suffered a number of rockets that managed to disrupt some of the city's electricity.
Ashkelon has been attacked at least five times in the past by long-range Katyushas and Qassams. But until now the rockets have fallen in open areas or the city's southern suburbs. Wednesday's rocket, which fell near the city's Barzilai Medical Center, was a harsh illustration of the fact that tens of thousands more Israelis are now in range of Hamas fire. A major escalation, such as a large-scale Israel Defense Forces ground operation in the Gaza Strip, could bring Hamas strikes on Ashdod, as well.
Those who decided on the targeted killing in Khan Yunis - the prime minister, the defense minister and, it is to be assumed, the foreign minister (standing in for Olmert while he was in Japan) certainly took into account the expected fierce response. Hamas has been trying for some time to create a balance of deterrence with Israel in the Gaza Strip. For every large-scale strike on its people, it has responded in recent months with massive rocket barrages.
The organization especially wants to see targeted assassinations taken out of the equation. Hamas seems to believe that if Israel pays an impossible price for the assassinations, it will avoid them. This is critical issue for Hamas, whose senior political figures are constantly worried about being killed, as were their predecessors, Ahmed Yassin and Abdel Aziz Rantisi. The five Hamas activists who were killed were known to have returned to the Gaza Strip after the wall fell at Rafah, following training in Iran and Syria. The Shin Bet security service hinted that they had undergone intensive training for a special project. Another kidnapping? Long-range rockets? Suicide bombings? Clearly, the theat was serious enough to decide to strike them immediately, even if it meant dozens of rockets on Sderot and Ashkelon.
As in previous rounds of violence, Israel can be expected to deliver a harsh response of its own. However, such action is not immediately expected to include sending large-scale ground forces into the Gaza Strip; preparations for such an operation have not yet been completed. A major ground operation might come in the spring, and even then, Israel will probably prefer dealing with certain areas of the Strip, and to avoid as much as possible a wholesale occupation. In total contrast to Lebanon in 2006, it is impossible to identify at any level - from the cabinet to the Gaza Brigade - a desire to go to war. However every Israeli casualty, especially in Sderot, brings the IDF a little closer to a major operation.
Under the influence of the dramatic media reports, one could forget that only two weeks ago, following the wounding of the Twito brothers in Sderot, we experienced a similar escalation. The tension relaxed, or simply disappeared from the agenda, following the assassination of Hezbollah terror chief Imad Mughniyah in Damascus. This time, too, if no more Israelis are killed, the tension may slowly dissipate. Hamas, at least as it seems for now, does not want to drag Israel into all-out conflict.
http://tinyurl.com/2v5gyw
bin66 - 5. Mrz, 08:25
