Hamas cancels 26th anniversary celebrations

Citing energy crisis, terror group says budget for festivities reallocated to help residents affected by blackouts

By ToI Staff and Elhanan Miller 29 November 2013, 10:40 pm

Edit

Palestinian children do their homework by candlelight in their family home, during a power cut in the Rafah refugee camp in the southern Gaza Strip, on September 18, 2013. (Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash90)

Hamas announced Friday that it was canceling mass celebrations meant to mark the 26th anniversary of its founding because of the recent blackout in Gaza and its impact on residents of the Strip

The budget allocated for the celebrations, the group said, according to Israel Radio, would be rerouted to help Gazans suffering from the energy crisis. Gaza has been suffering from repeated power shortages which have worsened since the recent Egyptian crackdown on smuggling tunnels, through which cheap diesel was previously streamed into the Strip. Currently, Gaza residents receive power for only half of the day.

Hamas noted that it would instead mark the anniversary in a series of modest celebrations next month.

Hamas has blamed the Palestinian Authority for the energy crisis due to the high taxation the PA imposes on Israeli diesel used to power the Strip’s sole power station.

Moussa Abu Marzouk, deputy head of Hamas’s political bureau, has accused the PA of raising the price of Israeli diesel from NIS 4.26 ($1.2) per liter to NIS 7.75 ($2.19), making Gaza’s energy bill unaffordable to the Hamas government.

“The [Palestinian] Authority in Ramallah has gone back on its promise to not increase the tax. This has rendered the energy authority in Gaza unable to pay the taxes, as it can barely pay the bill without the tax,” Abu Marzouk wrote on his Facebook page.

The energy needs of the Gaza Strip stand at 360 megawatts at full capacity, Abu Marzouk wrote. But Gaza currently receives just 208 megawatts: 28 from Egypt, 120 from Israel, and 60 from the sole Gaza power plant.