Comment:It is the EU who has turned off the electricity to Gaza-not Israel. The EU says it is not a political action-it says it would not hurt the citizens of Gaza. What nonsense. No international outcry, not one word! However, when Israel even dare threaten such an act, voices from around the world scream how dastardly are the Arab hating Israelis. The hypocrisy among the media and world leaders is no longer astounding, it is disgraceful!
JERUSALEM -- Hundreds of thousands of Gazans endured a fourth day of power blackouts yesterday as the international war of attrition against Hamas reached a new and harsher stage. The latest tightening of the economic vise left at least half of Gaza's 1.5 million residents living by candlelight last night. Some tried to follow the erratic power supply neighbourhood to neighbourhood in an effort to charge their laptop computers and mobile phones. Crowds flocked to the few cafés that still had fuel for their own electricity generators, eager to watch television and have a hot meal.
Under pressure from the rival Fatah administration that holds sway in the West Bank, the European Union has suspended its funding of the main electricity plant in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.
The EU, which considers Hamas a terrorist organization and has no official contact with the group, announced it has stopped paying an Israeli company to supply fuel to Gaza until it receives assurances that the radical Islamist group will not try to raise revenues for itself by taxing fuel sales.
"We have received information that Hamas is planning to introduce taxes on electricity bills and this will not allow us to continue paying for the fuel," a senior EU official said. "We need to make sure that our aid is exclusively for the benefit of the population."
Since Hamas's violent takeover of Gaza in June, the EU - along with the United States, Canada, Israel and other countries - has pursued a policy of trying to strengthen Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas and his secular Fatah movement by pouring aid into the West Bank while isolating Hamas and allowing only the barest necessities into Gaza.
The goal, diplomats and aid workers say, is to persuade Gazans that it's in their interest to turn away from Hamas, which refuses to recognize Israel's right to exist, by showing off the benefits of Mr. Abbas's co-operation with Israel and the West. The economic boycott of Hamas is coinciding with a renewed international effort to kick-start long-stalled peace talks between Israel and Mr. Abbas's administration.
Earlier this month, the United States froze the bank accounts of the al-Salah Association, a Hamas-affiliated charity that runs two schools, four medical centres and provides support each month to the families of more than 10,000 Palestinian children who lost their fathers. Analysts say the move is aimed at reducing Hamas's popularity ahead of possible elections - many Palestinians are believed to have voted for Hamas in the 2006 legislative elections out of gratitude to al-Salah and other Hamas charities.
Since the Hamas takeover, life has continuously gotten worse in the narrow coastal territory, which is often described as an open-air prison. All land crossings in and out of Gaza have been sealed since the June takeover, and the strip has neither a seaport nor a functioning airport. With trade almost at a standstill, grocery store shelves are increasingly bare with once-common goods like cigarettes now almost impossible to find.
Meanwhile, violence continues. Six people were killed yesterday in an Israeli air strike that Israel said targeted a car carrying Hamas militants involved in the regular firing of rockets into Israel from Gaza.
Aid agencies warned yesterday that if Gaza didn't receive more fuel by Thursday, the strip's main sewage and water-treatment plant would be forced to shut down. Already seven water wells, serving about 150,000 people in the north of Gaza, were not operating yesterday due to a lack of electricity.
Nahar Al-Najar, vice-chairman of the Coastal Municipal Water Utility, pleaded with the EU to reconsider its decision. "If you want to punish the government, don't punish the people," he said.
Fuel shortages began last week when Israel stopped the delivery of fuel into Gaza, citing security concerns. While Israel reopened the crossing on Sunday, the Israeli company, Dor Alon Energy, didn't make any deliveries because it had been notified that the EU wouldn't pay for the shipment.
About 60 per cent of Gaza's electricity comes via power lines from Israel, with another 10 per cent coming overland from Egypt. The remaining 30 per cent is normally supplied by Gaza's sole power plant, which was bombed by Israel in 2006 and is now almost completely out of fuel. The EU normally pays some €6.5-million ($9.2-million) a month to keep it operational.
As Gazans sat in the dark, Hamas and Fatah traded accusations over who was to blame for the crisis.
"Hamas is collecting all the electricity fees and never pays the costs of the electricity," said Jawwad Hirzallah, deputy minister of economy in the emergency government appointed by Mr. Abbas following the Gaza fighting. "Hamas collects from the people and doesn't pay the costs. So the European Union found itself paying the electricity company, while Hamas was pocketing the revenues."
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