Quartet Representative Tony Blair made
the request Monday to Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Silvan Shalom on behalf of
the Palestinian Authority, Blair's spokesman confirmed to The Media Line.
"Mr. Blair did raise this issue and
asked for an increase to the electricity output to Gaza," the spokesman
said. "Mr. Blair raised the issue at the request of the Palestinian Energy
Authority in the Palestinian Authority. Our discussions are ongoing."
Since the beginning of the year, Gaza
has been experiencing power cuts - sometimes lasting for eight to 10 hours -
due to a shortage of industrial fuel to power its indigenous electric turbines.
Israel supplies Gaza with about 60 percent of its electricity.
Blair's appeal encountered a cold
refusal from Shalom, who is also the Israeli minister for regional
development.
"I expect the international
community to pressure Hamas into accepting the Quartet's conditions," said
Shalom in a press release published by his office following the meeting.
"I regard Hamas as responsible for the suffering of residents in the Gaza
Strip. Israel cannot afford to cooperate with a terror organization that wishes
to annihilate it."
Shlaom's spokeswoman Lee Gat told The
Media Line that the statement should not have been understood as an outright
refusal to the Gazan request, but rather as Shalom's general approach regarding
cooperation with Hamas.
Israel supplies Gaza with 120 megawatts
of electricity through 10 power lines.
Hala Zibda of the Palestinian Energy and
Natural Resources Authority in Gaza said that the request for additional
electricity was sent from the office of Prime Minister Salam Fayyad in
Ramallah, since no direct contact existed between the Israeli government and
Hamas.
"In 2005 Israel signed an agreement
with the Palestinian Authority to provide electricity to Gaza through a new
power line, No. 161. The Palestinian Authority even paid part of the sum for
its construction, but the Israelis never implemented the agreement," Zibda
told The Media Line.
In June, Blair held a joint press
conference with Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu following an Israeli
government decision to loosen its ban on materials entering the Gaza Strip.
"Over these coming months we need to improve life in Gaza," Blair
said at that event.
Meanwhile, arrangements have been made
to keep the electricity flowing after the Gaza Electricity Distribution Company
finally paid its bill for diesel fuel to the Palestinian Authority. The money
for the bill was raised by a cut in the salaries of PA civil servants.
Palestinian Prime Minister Fayyad
announced on Tuesday the resumption of 320,000 liters of diesel a day into Gaza
for a limited period of five days. The breakthrough in Gaza's prolonged energy
crisis was made possible after the Gaza Electricity Distribution Company
transferred $2 million to the account of the Energy Authority in Ramallah.
According to the Palestinian NGO
network, 600,000 liters of industrial diesel entered Gaza on Wednesday, meant
to fuel two of Gaza's four power turbines.
"Tonight at five o'clock Gaza will
be illuminated!" Amjad Al-Shawwa, head of the Palestinian NGO Network,
told The Media Line.
Shawwa added that 600,000 more liters
were scheduled to enter Gaza on Thursday, covering Gaza's energy demand over
the weekend when border crossings with Israel were closed.
"The Hamas government and the
Palestinian Authority also agreed to pressure Israel into completing the
construction of power line 161 which would add between 30 and 50 megawatts to
Gaza's power grid," Al-Shawwa said. "This, together with importing
natural gas, would mean developments on the strategic level."
Al-Shawwa added that the Palestinian
Authority had paid Israel 7 million shekels for power line 161 in 2005, but it
was never constructed due to Hamas' takeover of the Gaza Strip in June 2007 and
Israel's policy not to strengthen the rule of Hamas.
