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Abbas' Electricity Deal Is an Olive Branch to Gaza
(Al-Monitor) Shlomi Eldar - On Jan. 7, the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, Maj. Gen. Yoav Mordechai, wrote on his Arabic Facebook page: "Recently the Palestinian Authority turned [to Israel] with the request to turn on the electricity after its supply was constricted in June 2017, and promised to pay the requisite costs. Israel...accepted the Authority's appeal only out of humanitarian considerations." Mordechai noted another humanitarian issue had yet to be resolved: the return of the bodies of Israeli soldiers Hadar Goldin and Oron Shaul, held by Hamas since the 2014 Gaza war. The cost of Gaza's electricity consumption is estimated at $11.6 million a month. Abbas' decision to resume payment for Gaza's power supply will add two to four additional hours of electricity a day. It sends a message to Gaza residents that the PA and Abbas have not abandoned them, prior to a meeting of the Palestinian National Council in Ramallah on Jan. 14.