West Bank facing blackout over unpaid £63m electricity bills

 

Jerusalem

Suggested Topics

Electricity supplies to the West Bank could be cut off next week unless the Palestinian Authority pays the Israel Electric Corporation more than £63m in unpaid bills.

The debts include more than £12m owed by the Palestinian Authority itself, and £38m from consumers in refugee camps.

A stay of execution until after the Eid Al-Fitr holiday, which ends the Islamic holy month of Ramadan this weekend, was agreed in an emergency conference call earlier this week between the Israeli company, the president of the Palestinian Power Authority and the director of the Palestinian-controlled Jerusalem District Electricity Company, Hisham al-Omari.

Mr al-Omari warned there would be a "real crisis" for electricity supplies in Jerusalem, Ramallah, Bethlehem and Jericho if the Palestinian Authority did not pay its debts to Israel. The bills from Hamas-controlled Gaza have been paid. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency pays for water, education and health in the refugee camps, but does not pay for electricity.

Last week, the Israeli Electric Corporation announced it would begin procedures to cut off electricity supplies and start legal measures to take control of the Palestinian company's assets and bank accounts unless the debts were paid.

Mr al-Omari warned that power cuts would all but halt the struggling Palestinian economy and are liable to trigger severe political unrest and even violence against both the Palestinian Authority and Israel.

Israel supplies electricity to the Palestinian Authority under the 1993 Oslo Peace Accords. It has experienced its own power problems this year with the repeated bombing of a gas pipeline supplying gas from Egypt to Israel and Jordan and unusually hot weather that has sent domestic demand soaring to nearly 95 per cent of Israel's total generating capacity.

Top stories
News in pictures
World news in pictures
UK news in pictures
UK news in pictures
More stories
       
Independent
Travel Shop
India and Shimla
14 nights from only £1899pp Find out more
Prague city break
Three nights from £199pp Find out more
4* Soreda hotel break, Malta
Seven nights all-inclusive from £399pp Find out more
Independent Dating
and  

By clicking 'Search' you
are agreeing to our
Terms of Use.

Day In a Page

Watch out Watford: Here comes the secretive Bilderberg Group

Watch out Watford: Here comes the secretive Bilderberg Group

A meeting of global power brokers in a Hertfordshire hotel is exciting conspiracy theorists, but what are they really about?
'The ultimate all-in-one home entertainment system': Microsoft finally unveils its Xbox ONE console

'The ultimate all-in-one home entertainment system'

Microsoft finally unveils its Xbox ONE console
Plenty of Fish dating site founder pulls 'Intimate Encounters' option to ward off sleazy men

Plenty of sleaze

Dating website pulls intimate 'hook-up' section to curb harassment
Inferno author Dan Brown 'honoured' to be invited to join the Freemasons

The Freemasons’ Code

Dan Brown reveals the message that told him door to the lodge is open
Not secure any more: G4S boss heads for exit at last

Not secure any more: G4S boss heads for exit at last

Nick Buckles survived the Olympics débâcle and a £5bn bid fiasco but a profit warning finally triggered his downfall
How to say ‘I’m a sellout’: Tumblr’s David Karp’s message of reassurance to his staff sounded very familiar

How to say ‘I’m a sellout’

Tumblr’s David Karp’s message of reassurance to his staff sounded very familiar
Why clubs are keen to take a stand

Why clubs are keen to take a stand

There's a real desire around the grounds for safe standing. But will the authorities listen?
In the end the fans decided Tony Pulis had made a pig's ear of the job at Stoke City

In the end the fans decided Tony Pulis had made a pig's ear of the job at Stoke City

Disillusion with a siege mentality and negative playing style made change inevitable
James Lawton: The James Hunt I knew is the subject of a new F1 movie

James Lawton: The James Hunt I knew is the subject of a new F1 movie

British driver was fascinating man whose epic duel with Niki Lauda in 1976 was typical of an era of glamour and glory – but also the ever-present threat of death
Stuart Hogg: Ready to climb his own Everest

Stuart Hogg: Ready to climb his own Everest

Lions' cub, 20, joins long line of players from Scottish borders club Hawick given opportunity to make his mark at highest level
Carl Froch handed rare chance of revenge with dream rematch

Steve Bunce on Boxing

Carl Froch handed rare chance of revenge with dream rematch against Mikel Kessler
'There is a battle going on inside us that is never discussed'

Masculinity in crisis?

'There is a battle going on inside us that is never discussed'
Have US shock jocks gone too far?

Have US shock jocks gone too far?

An incendiary remark from Rush Limbaugh may be the beginning of the end for outspoken right-wing US broadcasters
The ‘Beverly Hills’ of Surrey pays more income tax than big cities of the North

The ‘Beverly Hills’ of Surrey

Elmbridge pays more income tax than big cities of the North
Heavenly Bodies

Heavenly Bodies

Michael Landy's artistic marriage made in heaven... and hell