Israeli and Palestinian officials will meet this week to discuss the Palestinian electric company's debts and set a payment schedule to postpone blackouts in the occupied West Bank.But the PA has never taken responsibility for the so-called "refugee" camps in their midst. Even the the people living in camps in Area A under full PA control, or those in Gaza before the Hamas takeover, were never treated equally.
Palestinian energy authority director Omar Kittaneh and the director of an Israeli company will attend the meeting, said Hisham al-Omari, the director of the Jerusalem Electric Company.
Al-Omari said the Israeli electric company is demanding back payments and is serious about cutting off electricity to Ramallah, Bethlehem Jericho and parts of Jerusalem if payments are not received.
The Jerusalem Electric Company owes about 415 million shekels, he said.
Al-Omari blamed the Palestinian Authority for failing to seek payments from refugee camps and said the company could not take responsibility for the camps, which are exempted from paying for electricity.
"The PA should take financial responsibility for the refugee camps. The camps are part of us, and they have to take responsibility and pay their bills," he said.
On the contrary - the PA (and Hamas), which has the ability to dismantle those camps and mainstream tens of thousands of their residents into Palestinian Arab society, have steadfastly refused to do anything of the sort.
Not only that, but a PA official has even stated that the residents of the camps would not even become citizens of "Palestine" should the state ever be declared!
The electricity issue is actually emblematic of the cynical use of the "refugees" by the PA, who prove again that instead of trying to help their own citizens, they are instead hell-bent on prolonging their suffering.