Gaza power plant shuts down for lack of fuel

[oberliner]

GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories — The Gaza Strip's sole power plant shut down on Saturday for lack of diesel fuel, a Palestinian power authority official said.

Kanaan Obeid, assistant director of Gaza's electricity authority, said the plant, which provides 25 percent of Gaza's power, was forced to shut down due to a payment dispute between the strip's Hamas rulers and the rival Palestinian administration in the West Bank.

The power plant has closed down on several occasions in the past because of fuel shortages.

The Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority says Hamas is to blame for the crisis, accusing it of allowing tens of thousands of salaried Gazans not to pay their bills and thereby share in the cost of industrial fuel for the plant.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jb0WtFP_iIwpZvYGFFDvjO1zu8VA

[Name removed]

1. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[ConsAreLiars]

2. More using of the divide and conquer tactics by the early backers of Hamas.

Hamas was supported by Israel to weaken/oppose the secularist PLO, their 'moral' authority was reinforced by the petty corruption that infests every state authority, and the same game continues.

From: http://www.almanar.com.lb/NewsSite/NewsDetails.aspx?id=149455&language=en

"The industrial diesel needed to run the power plant comes through an Israeli-controlled fuel terminal. The quantity of fuel brought in to Gaza has declined since November, when the European Commission transferred responsibility for buying the fuel to the PA after its aid program expired.

"Obeid said Gaza was waiting for the PA to pay the Israelis so that the flow of fuel could resume and the plant be restarted. PA officials in Ramallah could not immediately be reached for comment on Saturday.

And Jackasses try to blame Hamas for the fact that the Israelis will not allow Gaza to get supplies like fuel from any source but the one they control.

[Kringle]

3. why do poor people, choose the most expensive fuel available?

diesel costs
....................
three times that of natural gas
ten times that of coal

[Name removed]

4. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Kringle]

6. both oil and coal, would need to be imported

[Violet_Crumble]

9. Heard of that little thing called the blockade of Gaza? n/t

[Kringle]

10. happens all over the world, not just Gaza .nt

[Violet_Crumble]

11. Israel's got illegal blockades going on globally? Fill me in!

On a serious note, I'm wondering if you've actually stopped and thought about what yr saying. How is coal supposed to be imported when Israel is blockading Gaza?

[Kringle]

13. Lebanon is not blockadd, they also choose oil..nt

[eyl]

17. without going into the legaility or illegality of the blockade,

presumably it would be imported the same way that diesel is? (I don't know which of the two is more efficient, though..)

[Chulanowa]

18. The sheer bulk of coal needed to match diesel makes its importation unlikely under the blockade

especially as it would have to be delivered by truck; no functional port, remember?

As for other liquid fuels, their volatile nature means I don't see Israel letting tankers full of the stuff get past the checkpoints. That same quality makes them dangerous for use in power plants anyway;

[Chulanowa]

12. Watching your knee jerk is amusing n/t

[Violet_Crumble]

5. Possibly becasue as usual, poor people don't get any choice n/t

[Kringle]

7. why would their choices be more limited, than someone else? .nt

[Violet_Crumble]

8. Yr asking that seriously??

You honestly think the poor have as much choice in things as the wealthy do?

[Chulanowa]

14. I think he might be high

Friends don't let friends toke and post.

[Violet_Crumble]

15. I was wondering something along the same lines...

I guess it's not fair to have some fun with them if they are...

[Ken Burch]

16. "He makes stupid posts 'bout Gaza, and I know why...."

"...because he got high,
because he got high,
because he got high..."


(...couldn't help it...you don't get many excuses to make Afro Man references in the I/P thread...)

[Chulanowa]

19. LOL!

A pseudo-rec for you, sir! +1!

[oberliner]

20. Hamas cracks down on Gaza Strip power cuts protest

GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories — Hamas police broke up on Tuesday a protest over electricity cuts in the Gaza Strip using clubs and rifle butts, wounding numerous people, organisers said.

“We condemn the Hamas police crackdown on a protest rally organised by us to protest the continuing electricity crisis ... which led of wounding many of our leaders and members by clubs and rifle butts,” the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) said in a statement.

An AFP photographer witnessed the crackdown but was prevented from filming by the Hamas police.

http://www.khaleejtimes.com/displayarticle.asp?xfile=data/middleeast/2010/August/middleeast_August208.xml§ion=middleeast&col=