[TIME] Tim McGirk - Last Friday, the lights went out in Gaza because the electric bill wasn't being paid. The European Union which, for humanitarian reasons, is financing the Palestinian enclave's power supply, suddenly refused to continue the subsidy because of allegations that Gaza's government - run by the Islamist party Hamas - was about to tax electricity to bolster its armed militants. On Wednesday, the lights were coming back on in Gaza after Ismael Haniyeh, Prime Minister of Gaza's government, assured the EU that electricity funds were being properly utilized. The Palestinians living in Gaza, however, were seething - not at Haniyeh and Hamas but at Abbas, who sat out this crisis in air-conditioned comfort in the West Bank. Gazans believe he is trying to force them to rebel against Hamas and that he is doing this by breaking their backs. Sources in Ramallah said Abbas' advisers provoked the power cut by falsely warning the Europeans that Hamas was pocketing the electricity bill payments.
2007-08-24 01:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive