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PA: "Hamas Is Staging Gaza Blackouts"

[Jerusalem Post] Khaled Abu Toameh - PA officials in Ramallah accused Hamas on Tuesday of staging the latest blackouts in Gaza in a bid to win sympathy and incite the Palestinian public against Israel and the PA. The officials said that contrary to Hamas' claim, there is no shortage of basic goods, medicine, and fuel in Gaza, largely thanks to the many underground tunnels along the border with Egypt. "There's no shortage of fuel in Gaza and the Electricity Company is continuing to function normally," said a PA official. "Our people in Gaza have told us that the blackouts are all staged as part of Hamas propaganda." The Fatah-controlled Pal-Press Web site on Thursday quoted a senior official in the Gaza Electricity Company as saying that Hamas has been stealing fuel supplies intended for the power grid. "Hamas has seized more than 220,000 liters of fuel that was intended for generators belonging to our company," he revealed. "There's no shortage of fuel and as such there is no reason for a crisis." The official said Hamas militiamen had been forcing the company to cut off power supplies to some areas to create the impression that the outage was due to a lack of fuel caused by the ongoing closure of the border crossings.
2008-11-19 01:00:00
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