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| Israel-Palestine-Jordan | |
| Gaza Power Plant Shuts Down over Palestinian Tax Dispute | |
| 2015-03-15 | |
Hamas pays the PA for fuel imported to besieged Gazoo, but is short of cash and had been unable to cover the additional costs in tax. In December, Qatar ...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates... stepped in and donated $10 million (nine million euros) to the PA to cover the tax, effectively exempting Hamas from paying it. But that money has dried up, and the PA is insisting Hamas begin paying the tax again, the Islamist movement says. "The power plant stopped producing electricity during the night, after funds from Qatari donations to cover fuel costs ran out," the Hamas-run Gazoo energy authority said. "We are unable to pay for the fuel because of the taxes on purchasing it." Gazoo is blockaded and controlled by Israel on two of its crossings, and isolated by Egyptian closure of a third. Israel facilitates the entry of fuel supplies. A crisis-hit Hamas is unable to pay its own government and security employees due to the blockade and Egypt's closure of the border, with financial restraints hurting the group. The plant requires 550,000 liters (145,000 gallons) of fuel per day to produce at capacity, the energy authority says. Even with the plant running, Gazoo suffers 12 hours of power outages each day, and that is expected to increase to 18 hours after the plant's shutdown. Many individual homes have their own generators, and households can purchase, expensively, fuel that comes into Gazoo for private consumption. Hamas and the Paleostine Liberation Organization, which dominates the PA, signed a unity deal in April that was to see the West Bank-based government take over administration and security of the Gazoo Strip. But pending various disputes, including over the payment of Hamas' security forces, the deal has yet to be implemented, and Hamas remains in control of Gazoo. The two sides agreed on a government of independents in June, but progress on reconciliation to fix a years-old split was further delayed by Hamas' war with Israel in July and August. | |
| Posted by:trailing wife |