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<big><big><b>Israel Cuts Bethlehem Power over PA Debt</b></big></big><br>
<br>
April 04, 2016<br>
<b><small><small><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.imemc.org/article/75464">http://www.imemc.org/article/75464</a></small></small></b><br>
<br>
Israel Electric Corporation (IEC) cut off power to the occupied West
Bank city of Bethlehem on Monday afternoon, reportedly as a warning
over the Palestinian Authority’s mounting debt.<br>
<br>
Hisham al-Omari, the head of the Jerusalem District Electricity
Company (JDECO), told Ma’an News Agency that the cut had originally
been intended to take place in the city of Ramallah and al-Bireh,
where most PA institutions are located.<br>
<br>
The PA tried to dissuade IEC from carrying out cuts in the West
Bank, al-Omari said, but the Israeli government-owned company
decided on short notice to cut off electricity to Bethlehem instead
between 2 p.m. and 6 p.m.<br>
<br>
Deputy mayor of Bethlehem Issam Juha said that the municipality had
not been warned in advance that the cut would take place.<br>
<br>
Al-Omari also said that further cuts were to take places across the
West Bank in the coming two weeks, with cuts scheduled on Wednesday
between 9 a.m. and 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. and 3 p.m. west of Bethlehem,
including in the towns of Beit Jala and Doha, and the al-Duheisha
refugee camp. Similar cuts were also expected to take place on
Thursday in villages north of Ramallah, he added.<br>
<br>
Al-Omari said the power cuts amounted to "collective punishment,"
adding that the electricity cuts would have a particularly negative
effect on Bethlehem's economy, which relies heavily on tourism.<br>
<br>
"It affects all the people, whether they have paid their bills or
not," he told Ma'an. "The power cuts won't bring any solution to
what is a political issue."<br>
<br>
IEC cut off electricity to the Jericho district on Thursday. At the
time, al-Omari said the cuts proved Israel had plans to cut power
supplies to other Palestinian cities being supplied by JDECO for
unpaid debts amounting to more than 1.7 billion shekels (about $450
million).<br>
<br>
JDECO filed a lawsuit against IEC in June demanding the corporation
pay some 500 million shekels worth of compensation for the financial
losses and damages that JDECO had suffered, which resulted of the
expensive fines that the company paid to Israel for days of delay.<br>
<br>
In May 2015, an initiative went into force to connect electricity
grids in the occupied West Bank to Jordan as part of a greater move
to interconnect power usage in the Arab world.<br>
<br>
Expansion projects to the grid in the occupied West Bank comes as
Palestinian dependence on Israeli electricity has been an ongoing
point of contention between the two parties for years.<br>
<br>
The contention arises partially due to massive debt owed by the
Palestinian Authority to the IEC, which provides around 88 percent
of total electricity consumption in the occupied Palestinian
territory.<br>
<br>
The effects of debts accumulated to IEC are seen beyond power cuts
and growing indifference by residents to paying exorbitant bills.<br>
<br>
"The outstanding payments owed to the Israeli Electric Company took
a heavy toll on a struggling Palestinian fiscal situation," said
Steen Lau Jorgensen, World Bank Director for West Bank and Gaza in
an April 2015 report.<br>
<br>
"The non-payment by Palestinian distribution companies and
municipalities for purchased electricity has put further constraints
on the Palestinian Authority's budget and has hindered economic
stability," Jorgensen added.<br>
<br>
The World Bank recommended in the report that the Palestinian
Authority put more effort into reducing non-payment of electricity
bills, while the Israeli Electricity Company should cooperate with
its Palestinian counterparts in developing payment plans. <br>
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