Abbas Announces No More Electricity for Gaza

Last updated on: April 28, 2017 at 8:05 pm by Kermit Zarley

Abbas Announces No More Electricity for Gaza 2017-04-28T20:05:41-07:00 Kermit Zarley

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Mahmoud Abbas is president of the Palestinian Authority that governs Palestinians living in the West Bank. Hamas governs Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip. These two governing agencies have been at odds with each other ever since 2007. The history is that Israel unilaterally relinquished the Gaza Strip to Palestinians in 2005, Hamas won elections there in 2006, and Hamas militarily defeated the Fatah (military wing of the Palestinian Authority) there in 2007 to take full control of the Gaza Strip.

The Palestinian Authority is a secular organization, whereas Hamas is a Muslim organization. Hamas was created in 1987 by the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt. At first Hamas was strictly a humanitarian, religious entity. But it later became militant as well. Hamas is deemed a terrorist organization by both Israel and the U.S. so that neither of them will negotiate with Hamas. On the other hand, both negotiate with the Palestinian Authority.

Yesterday, President Abbas announced that the Palestinian Authority will no longer pay for electricity that Israel supplies to the Gaza Strip. This area has been suffering electricity shortages for quite some time. During a certain number hours per day, Gazans are not allowed to use electricity. Now this. Israel only supplies electricity to Gaza if Palestinians pay for it. The Palestinian Authority has always paid for this electricity to Gaza. This announcement appears to widen the split between the Palestinian Authority and Hamas.

This division between the Palestinian Authority and Hamas harms the so-called “peace process” between Israel and the Palestinians. This process has now been non-existent for a few years. Abbas’ announcement appears to be a result of the Palestinian Authority’s impatience with its stalled efforts to unify with Hamas. The last attempt to do this was in mid-2014 when the two organizations signed a unification accord. It was supposed to lead to free elections. But such has not been conducted since 2006. Some observers say Abbas’ announcement yesterday appears to be directed to Hamas rather than Israel, saying to Hamas, “if you are not going to unify with us, then you need to fully govern the Gaza Strip which includes paying for your electricity.”

Why do I blog so much about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict? (See this subject in Archives Index for a list of posts on this subject.) The land under dispute is that which God promised, in the Bible, to give the Jewish people. But what about the Arabs living there who call themselves Palestinians? Read my book, Palestine Is Coming: The Revival of Ancient Philistia (1990). It was a book published before its time. In the past 27 years since then, events have been occurring in the direction that I said they would based on my interpretations of ten prophecies in the Jewish Bible (Old Testament). As the subtitle of this book indicates, I’m saying a Palestinian state will be created solely in the coastal plain, as a sort of political revival of ancient Philistia, and Israel will annex all of the West Bank.

Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

Hamas

Mahmoud Abbas

Palestinian Authority

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