Ref: 24/2010

The Palestinian Centre for Human
Rights (PCHR) expresses grave concern over the ongoing deterioration of the
humanitarian conditions of the civilian population due to widespread
electricity blackouts. The operation of
Gaza Power Plant has been stopped since 10 April because the industrial fuel
required to operate the Plant ran out. PCHR is concerned that the current crisis may impact the population’s
access to vital services, including water supplies, and that this crisis may
result in the suspension of work in some vital sectors such as health,
sanitation and education. It should be noted
that exams in Gaza schools and universities are very close and electricity
blackouts will affect students’ preparations.

The operation of Gaza Power
Production Plant was totally stopped yesterday, Saturday, 10 April 2010. Engineer Cana’an ‘Obeid, Vice President of the
Power Authority in Gaza, announced that the operation of the four turbines in
the Plant was totally stopped due to the lack of industrial fuel. ‘Obeid added that the new crisis increased
electrical shortage to 50% because the government in Ramallah stopped
transferring payments for the bill of the industrial fuel required to operate
the Plant. However, Dr. Ghassan
al-Khatib, spokesman of the government in Ramallah, announced that Gaza
Electricity Distribution Company (GEDCO) does not pay its share of the cost of
the fuel required to operate Gaza Power Production Plant. Al-Khatib added that the government in
Ramallah has been committed to paying two-thirds of the required industrial
fuel since last November, and that he expected that GEDCO would transfer the
values of bills it collects to contribute to the cost of the industrial
fuel. Al-Khatib further noted that GEDCO
collects limited amounts from power consumers because of the weak support provided
to GEDCO by official bodies in Gaza.

It should be noted that on 20 November 2009, the European Union (EU)
decided to suspend its direct funds allocated to cover the cost of
approximately 2,200 cubes of industrial fuel weekly. The EU transferred these funds to the budget
of the Palestinian Authority which explicitly pledged, through the Power
Authority, to pay the cost of the industrial fuel required to operate Gaza
Power Production Plant. The Power
Authority covered the cost of the industrial fuel through the Ministry of
Finance in Ramallah from 20 November 2009 to 31 December 2009, and paid
approximately 70 million NIS. In
January, however, the Power  Authority
announced that it was unable to cover the bill of the industrial fuel required
to operate Gaza Power Production Plant. It covered the cost of 6.5 million liters (74%) out of the 8.8 million
liters of the industrial fuel allowed into the Gaza Strip by the Israeli
occupation authorities.

GEDCO is suffering increasing
financial deficit because 60% of power consumers in the Gaza Strip do not pay
their power bills, inflicting heavy annual losses on GEDCO. Power consumers in Gaza owe approximately 2.7
billion NIS to GEDCO, increasing the Company’s inability to pay, through the
Power Authority, the cost of the power produced by Gaza Power Production
Plant. Thousands of power consumers,
including thousands of social figures, politicians, businessmen, traders and
employees of governmental and non-governmental institutions, refrain from
paying their power bills although they have the ability to pay. They believed that the EU was funding the
industrial fuel required for the Power Production plant, and thus they were
encouraged to avoid paying their power bills.

The five governorates of the Gaza
Strip have been impacted by this new crisis and the civilian population has
endured additional suffering due to the repeated electrical outages. Civilians expressed their serious displeasure
at becoming the victims of the political conflict between the two governments
in Gaza and Ramallah. They are
particularly displeased because this crisis coincides with preparations for the
final exams of different educational stages. Dozens of civilians reported that many of their electrical devices were
disrupted because of the high voltage that is supplied when the electrical
power returns. The new developments of
the electrical crisis have resulted in the outage of the electrical power in
large areas in the Gaza Strip. Power is
provided for eight hours and then cut off for another eight hours every day. This power reduction is expected to
increase. There are concerns that the
suffering of the civilian population may increase and their access to basic
services, including health services, education, water, sanitation services and
other major services, may be affected.

PCHR expresses its extreme concern
over the catastrophic impacts that may result from the shutdown of facilities
that provide basic services to Gaza population as a result of the electrical
outages, which affect the daily public services provided to the civilian
population, especially in hospitals and water and sanitation facilities. In light of the above, PCHR calls upon:

· The Power Authority and the two governments in Ramallah and
Gaza to find immediate and prompt solutions to ensure the flow of industrial
fuel to Gaza Power Production Plant and to put an end to the ongoing crisis in
order to reduce the electrical shortages and end the suffering of the
population resulting from the ongoing political conflict.

· GEDCO to publish the names of social figures, politicians,
businessmen, traders and employees of governmental and non-governmental
institutions who owe large sums of money to GEDCO, and who have the ability to
repay their debts. This will be a major
means of pressure exerted on those who do not repay debts owed by them to
GEDCO. It can also be a part of
strategic solutions for the ongoing crisis regardless of the availability of
external funds.

· The Government in Gaza to coordinate with GEDCO to collect
the debts from those who are able to repay their debts. This will increase GEDCO’s ability to collect
debts and contribute to covering the costs of the industrial fuel required to
operate Gaza Power Production Plant.

PCHR notes that failure of
authorities responsible for this crisis should not impact people who are
committed to the payment of their monthly power bills.  Thus, these authorities must supply power to
these civilians under all circumstances. PCHR also recognizes that the comprehensive illegal closure that has been
imposed by the occupation for approximately three years has aggravated the
economic conditions of thousands of families and has limited their ability to
ensure their basic needs, including the payment of power bills. This requires
reconsideration of mechanisms of aid provided to these families, and finding a
mechanism for concerned authorities and parties to cooperate in order to help
these families to pay their power bills.