 Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday night appealed to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, the Mideast Quartet and the Arab League to exert pressure on Israel to remove the blockade from the Gaza Strip and resume fuel supplies.
| Have the rockets stopped yet? I thought not. |
The appeal came after Gaza City plunged into darkness as Hamas officials shut down the territory's only power plant. The move was made after Israel reportedly blocked a shipment of fuel that powers the plant.
| Stop! Yer breakin' my heart! |
Health Ministry official Dr. Moaiya Hassanain warned that the fuel cutoff would cause a health catastrophe. "We have the choice to either cut electricity on babies in the maternity ward or heart surgery patients or stop operating rooms," he said.
| Maybe you could power the generators with rockets? You seem to have enough of those. |
Israel sealed all crossings into Gaza last week because of a spike in rocket barrages, cutting off fuel, food and medicine. Several weeks ago Israel reduced the fuel supply as a pressure tactic. Abbas also appealed to Israel to lift the blockade, said the PA president's spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh.
| Israel's appealed to the Paleostinians to stop rocketing their towns, too. |
Earlier, exiled Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal urged the PA president and Arab leaders to forget their differences and help the beleaguered Gazans.
| Why? Are they running low on rockets? |
The plea was rare show of emotion for the hard-line Khaled Mashaal, who lives in exile in Damascus, Syria. "All Arab leaders, exercise real pressure to stop this Zionist crime ... take up your role and responsibility," he told Al-Jazeera satellite TV in a live interview from Syria. "We are not asking you to wage a military war against Israel ... but just stand with us in pride and honor."
| "And send us more rockets! We'll take it from there!" |
Mashaal said he had been in contact Sunday with some Arab countries including Egypt and Saudi Arabia to see if they would pressure Israel. He also said he asked Egypt if it would provide fuel to Gaza plant. Egyptian officials were not immediately available for comment. |