The total electricity supply in the Gaza Strip has been reduced by 10 percent as of last Saturday because of additional cuts in the supply of industrial diesel that Israel allows to be imported into the area, the project manager of the Gaza Power Generating Company said Sunday in a sworn affidavit to the High Court of Justice.


snip

According to the project manager, Rafiq Maliha, the Gaza power plant requires 360,000 liters of diesel fuel per day to operate the two gas turbines at full capacity and produce a total of 65 megawatts of electricity. As a result of the sanctions, the supply has been reduced to 250,000 liters per day and the output of the power station to 45 MW.

In addition to the Gaza power plant, Israel supplies 120 MW of electricity and Egypt another 17. Thus, until Saturday, the total electricity supply in Gaza amounted to 202 MW. It has now dropped to 182 MW.

According to Palestinian estimates, Gaza requires a total of 210 MW to provide for its winter needs, when consumption is higher.

Even before Israel imposed the first cuts, the power company was initiating planned power cuts because of the shortage in electricity caused by Israel's bombing of the turbines in June 2006.

Until now, only two of the three turbines destroyed by the bombings have been replaced.

Maliha added that the company had been planning to introduce a third turbine, which would increase the local supply by another 20 megawatts, thus boosting its total capacity to 80 MW. However, with the new turbine, the plant would require a supply of about 500,000 liters to produce the 80 MW.

"The cut to industrial diesel, used exclusively to power the turbines in Gaza's power plant, mean longer and more frequent power outages for hospitals, water wells, and other humanitarian services, in blatant violation of international law," said Sari Bashi, executive director of Gisha, one of 10 NGOs that have petitioned against the fuel and electricity sanctions.

more info at
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1198517306053

Comments:
The last paragraph quoted above shows that the sanctions are having the intended effect. These sanctions are designed to make sure that ordinary Palestinians suffer the consequences for voting against Israeli interests.

How many Gaza children will suffer life-long health problems because of these policies? Already 20-30% of Gaza children are malnourished. Israel's continued sanctions/blockade will ensure that that number will increase.

At what point can we expect any member of the US congress, that provides so much aid to Israel, speak out against these brutal policies? These policies that will not bring peace, but only the certainty of more suffering.

Please TAKE ACTION!
Sign this petition from Progressive Democrats of America
http://capwiz.com/pdamerica/issues/alert/?alertid=10668241&PROCESS=Take+Action
The 1.5 million women, children and men living in Gaza are being deprived of the simplest requirements for a decent life and are literally edging toward starvation. PDA believes it is our moral duty to help protect the lives of all such innocent people whose right to exist is under attack. We need your support. This is a genuine call to rescue people, not governments or political parties. It is time to put aside partisan conflicts and unite in an effort to end the needless suffering of the Palestinian citizens of Gaza. Please act.

I sure hope progressive posters here will take a moment to sign.

(please correct any mistake of mine)

65mw x 24hours = 1560 Mwh

for comparason, electricity in the US, per megawatt-hour,
peak, is typically USD 70.

1560 x 70 = $109,200 a day worth of electricity (in the US)
...............
worldwide wholesale price of diesel/gallon, about USD 2.50
360,000 divide-by 3.79 = 95,000 gallons -->
USD 237,500

if correct, JUST the Fuel costs more
that twice the cost of wholesale
electricity in the US

The article was published on January 6th. The NGO cited in the article, Gisha, has the following article on their website, dated January 10th:

Citation:

Israel's Military Agrees to "Temporarily" Increase the Amount of Industrial Diesel Permitted to Supply Gaza's Power Station

<snip>

Thursday, January 10, 2008: The State Attorney's office said tonight that the military would increase the amount of industrial diesel it permits Gaza's power station to acquire. The announcement came in a court document responding to an urgent request for an injunction filed by 10 human rights groups who have petitioned against the fuel and electricity cuts to Gaza.

http://www.gisha.org/index.php?intLanguage=2&intItemId=951&intSiteSN=113

access to basic needs must be stopped permanently. It is not enough to merely give a few extra liters in an effort to stop bad publicity, though it is certainly worth praising the work of groups like Gisha that forced the Israeli regime to relent even on a limited way.

The siege must be ended, the blockade on Gaza must end. I hope we can get some serious attention from progressive congresspeople who will have the courage to address the situation.

This should not be done in our name.

I am glad that Progressive Democrats of America is doing the right thing and calling for an end to the man-made disaster in Gaza.
Go http://pdamerica.org/

Jan 14, 2008 2:03 | Updated Jan 14, 2008 11:06
Gaza plan: Fill tankers, cut supplies

The defense establishment's decision to rescind a decision to limit the supply of industrial diesel to the Gaza Strip is part of a plan to end ties between Israel and the Hamas-run territory, defense officials said Sunday.

The sanctions were imposed last month as part of Israeli efforts to pressure Hamas and Islamic Jihad into stopping the daily Kassam rocket attacks against Sderot and other communities in the Western Negev. The move came under harsh international criticism and a number of petitions were filed in the High Court of Justice against it.

In a brief submitted to the court on Thursday, the state wrote that Defense Minister Ehud Barak had decided to suspend the sanctions and even increase the amount of industrial diesel Israel supplies to Gaza from 1.75 million liters a week to 2.2 million. The fuel is used exclusively by Gaza's sole power plant to produce electricity.

While the state's brief to the court appeared to be a reversal of Barak's earlier decision to impose the sanction, defense officials told The Jerusalem Post Sunday that after the Palestinian fuel storage containers were full, Israel would then complete its disengagement from the Gaza Strip and cut off all ties, including the supply of fuel and electricity.

"The idea is to give them an increased amount of fuel so they can quickly fill up their tankers and when they are full we will then cut the supplies," a defense official said. "The ultimate idea is to completely disengage from Gaza and to cut off all ties with the Strip."

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?c=JPArticle&cid=1199964915463&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

If you are going to "cut off all ties" then you need to free up the airspace and the coast too, and stop whining about who Egypt does and does not allow to go through Rafah. Either stop throttling Gaza or stop yelling about how you're "cutting off all ties".

Let's quote Mr Barenboim again:

"the destinies of the Israeli people and the Palestinian people are inextricably linked"

make of their minds about their role wrt Gaza.