UNRWA-USA lies again to fundraise, falsely blaming Israel for Gaza power woes (UPDATE)

UNRWA-USA sent out a fundraising email entitled "Your Gaza electricity crisis questions answered."

It fails any fact check.

The reason for the Gaza electricity shortage is summarized in this recent Washington Post article:

Until now, the Palestinian Authority received fuel from ­Israel and sold it to the power station in Gaza, which is under Hamas’s authority. The Pales­tinian Authority even reduced the taxes. But financial ­difficulties meant other countries ­occasionally had to step in to cover the cost. In January, after public unrest over power cuts, Qatar and Turkey donated three month’s worth of fuel to Gaza.

But that arrangement has ended, and the Palestinian Authority has said that as long as Hamas remains in charge in Gaza, it should be responsible for paying the electricity bill — at the full cost.

The political fighting between the two Palestinian factions has left Gazans to survive with between four and six hours of electricity a day.

UNRWA-USA doesn't want to talk about the infighting between Palestinian leaders over who pays for the fuel. No one will donate to help a dysfunctional "state"  which can't even get it together to help their own people.

So UNRWA-USA blames - well, you know who.

What caused the blackouts in the first place? The electricity crisis in Gaza has been ongoing since June 2006, when an Israeli airstrike hit the GPP. It was targeted with another airstrike in July 2014, temporarily shutting it down. The damage sustained in these airstrikes, combined with the chronic fuel shortage due to the blockade, has forced the GPP to operate at half its normal capacity for years.

 What is the current energy crisis caused by? On April 17, the GPP was forced to shut down completely due to exhaustion of all fuel supplies and a complete lack of funds to replenish them. On April 20, the fuel supply from Egypt was also cut off due to a technical malfunction that has not been repaired.

Actually, the Gaza power plant never reached anything close to full capacity since it was built in 2002, because Gaza power lines couldn't handle that amount. The most it ever generated was 90 MW out of 140 MW capacity; recently it was generating around 70 MW  while Israel supplies 120 MW directly to Gaza.

And Israel has not limited the amount of fuel to Gaza in years. The "blockade" has nothing to do with why the power plant has no fuel.

UNRWA-USA goes on to deceive would-be donors:

No matter what, UNRWA remains the largest humanitarian provider for Palestine refugees in the Gaza Strip, and the Agency will stop at nothing to provide critical education, health and mental health care, social services, and emergency response to the 1.3 million refugees who remain trapped under siege.

UNRWA does not buy or provide fuel for Gaza. This fundraiser is meant to appeal to the donors by saying how terrible those sieging, blockading Israelis are for making Gazan lives awful, without noting that UNRWA is not even helping them get electricity or fuel.

And all without saying a negative word about Hamas and the PA who every Gazan knows are the ones to blame for this problem.

Of course, we already knew that UNRWA-USA workers are rabidly anti-Israel.

UPDATE: JPost reports

The Palestinian Authority informed Israel that it is stopping all payments for electricity that enters Gaza through 10 electrical lines, the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories said on Thursday.

PA President Mahmoud Abbas has warned over the past two weeks that he will take “unprecedented measures,” if Hamas does not concede some of its control over Gaza to the PA.

Hamas has said that it will not give in to “the threats” of the PA president.

The electrical lines entering Gaza from Israel account for some 120-125 megawatts, more than half of Gaza’s current electrical output. An electrical line from Egypt provides 27 megawatts and a power station, when fueled, delivers between 60-80 megawatts. The power station has not been working for almost two weeks for lack of fuel. Gaza needs a total of 420 megawatts.

Without the 10 electrical lines from Israel functioning, Gaza will almost certainly face a major electricity crisis.

Of course UNRWA will be silent about this as well, and only blame Israel for shutting down the electricity if it gets to that point.

If Israel were smart, it would continue to send electricity to Gaza for humanitarian reasons and withhold the equivalent tax payments to the PA the way it has done in the past.

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