FLIPPING THE SWITCH IN GAZA

This is an utter disgrace and a crime against humanity. Israel causes more suffering and deaths in Gaza:

Bassam Shalfoh has an unenviable job. Unlike his counterparts in other parts of the world working as power plant maintenance technicians who rush to repair faulty lines and restore electrical power to the people, his job is to do the opposite.

Wearing a pair of rubber gloves and a hard hat, he does the rounds across Gaza in a van, going from pylon to pylon according to schedule to cut off entire neighbourhoods for stretches of eight hours a day.

With limited supplies of fuel reaching Gaza, the power plant has to operate on one turbine instead of four, forcing it to switch off entire parts of the coastal strip to keep other parts going. Bassam and his colleagues from the Gaza Electricity Distribution Corporation (GEDCO) have to do it manually, climbing pylons and cutting them off from the grid.

“It’s a thankless job,” the 27-year-old technician tells me as we stop in central Gaza City to cut off part of it for the next eight hours. As soon as he gets out of the van, a motorist offends him in what turns out to be a daily occurrence for poor Bassam and his colleagues.

The frustration is understandable, although misdirected. While Gaza is gripped by the cold winter spell, Bassam and his colleagues are the only ones to be seen plunging the strip into darkness every day.

He tells me they had incidents where people would just climb the pylons to switch on their area again – at great risk of electrocution – forcing him to go back to switch if off again and to lock the switch box with chains and padlocks.

Israel allows the transfer of only 2.2 million litres of industrial diesel every week for Gaza’s power plant, allowing it to use only two out of its four available turbines and leaving up to 28% of demand uncovered with 32 hours of weekly electricity cuts spread over Gaza.

The problem got much worse since the European Union stopped funding the weekly supply of fuel to the Gaza power plant at the end of last year. Fuel supplies covered by the Palestinian Authority have remained irregular, leaving the power plant operating on one turbine. Only yesterday, the power plant warned it was about to shut off completely as its fuel supply was running out.

At the moment, the plant cannot meet up to 40% of electricity demand, forcing it to cut off power for up to 56 hours weekly, with each area getting eight-hour cuts every day.

Even if applied fairly, the cuts do not discriminate according to need, affecting essential services such as hospitals.

“We don’t have dedicated lines to hospitals and schools, so when we cut off an area everyone is affected,” Jamal El Derdisawi, a spokesman for GEDCO says.

In the current situation, the market of portable generators imported from the tunnels has flourished as households equip themselves to provide their own share of energy. Fuel for these generators also comes through the tunnels – an option that is not available for the power plant given the official nature of the PA’s contractual agreements. Yet the power of these generators is too weak to provide for heating in the current freezing temperatures, or even to keep fridges going. In houses, people mainly use it for lighting, charging mobile phones and watching TV.

The widespread use of generators in households has also proved tragic in the last weeks. At the end of January, three children died of carbon monoxide poisoning in their sleep and two others were hospitalised after a generator was left running outside their bedroom. Faulty generators have also caused deadly fires in homes, most of which have amounts of fuel stored unsafely. The most recent fire claimed the life of a wheelchair-bound person and left two young people seriously injured.

Unless the Ramallah-based Finance Ministry buys and transfers the fuel to GEDCO, the situation is bound go get worse. Around 70% of users have not paid their bills since 2000 in what is estimated to amount to around $2.7 billion in due bills. The Gaza-based Palestinian Centre for Human rights criticised the EU’s aid method for encouraging “thousands of civilians not to pay their power bills”. On its part, the PA found it more expedient to give a 5% salary increase to its employees than to put Gaza’s energy needs on its priorities.

“It’s a difficult land,” Bassam says, as he climbs down another pylon. He has been doing this job for the last five years, and now it seems to be only getting worse. “Our abnormal situation has become everyday life.” source

Syria Readys for Israel

Syria’s Defense Minister is one sharp cookie. He sees clearly what’s taking place worldwide between the US and Israel, and he’s not about to ignore it. The following article is from Ynet an Israeli Zionist rag, but never mind, I’ll deal with the “hasbara” attempts of selective memory loss further down the post: First this:

Syrian DM tells troops to prepare for 'dangers ahead'

General Habib urges troops to increase training for 'challenges, dangers ahead', says 'Zionist movement taking uprecedented steps, is source for concern.'

Speaking at a ceremony marking the 61st anniversary of the establishment of the Syrian Navy, Habib said that "the Zionist movement is taking unprecedented racist steps and is a source for concern worldwide," adding that Syria was at one of its most sensitive times ever.

Peres told Solana in his meeting, "If Assad is interested in peace with Israel, he must take the route of direct negotiations, without preconditions."

Ok, here comes the “hasbara” section:

In reference to Hezbollah, Peres said that it is "Syria's reservist army that acts as a terrorist organization in all manners in Syria's service. Assad needs to make a decision whether he wants peace or continued conflict. I think peace with Syria should be attempted, but there is not need to make use of mediators."

So, having an army to defend your country is a terrorist act, especially when it's an army that whipped Israels butt in the last war. And now for the "memory loss" section:

He added that it must be remembered that Israel is in the Golan Heights because it was attacked and has a right to ensure that it will not be attacked again.

Didn’t you just love that last line there? This one to be exact: “it must be remembered that Israel is in the Golan Heights because it was attacked and has a right to ensure that it will not be attacked again” Now, I understand it’s hard for Israel to admit any fault for why an army had the cheek to fight back. I mean, why on earth would they expect a country that’s been invaded by Israel to actually want to defend itself from the rogue nuclear armed state next door. Hmmm, perhaps Israel should refer to Wiki for the answers as to who has the history of invading it’s neighbours:

After the 1948 Arab-Israeli conflict, Lebanon became home to more than 110,000 Palestinian refugees from their homes in present day Israel. By 1975, they numbered more than 300,000, The PLO became a powerful force and played an important role in the Lebanese Civil War. Continual violence occurred between Israel and the PLO from 1968, With the signing of the Israel/Egyptian peace treaty in 1979 the Likud Government of Israel hardened its attitude to the Arab world and became more aggressive.[5]

One of the reasons for the invasion, according to Sheldon L. Richman was "the discrediting and destruction of the PLO, which, by June 1982, had observed its cease-fire with Israel for about a year and had been pursuing a diplomatic strategy."[20]. Despite the PLO having observed the ceasefire, Israel continued looking for the "internationally recognized provocation" that Secretary of State Alexander Haig said would be necessary to obtain American support for an Israeli invasion of Lebanon.[21]

The First Lebanon War, began on 6 June 1982, when the Israel Defense Forces invaded southern Lebanon

Oh My goodness, it was Israel who attacked Lebanon AGAIN. Imagine that. So the Lebanon war in 2006 was simply a remnant of unfinished business from the original beginning of the war, which, I might ad, was begun by Israel.. and it even went so far as to create an “"internationally recognized provocation" Translation, they created a situation by provocation, so they could invade Lebanon with the blessings of the USA. You know, much like they are now doing in Gaza. Some things never change. So let’s talk about the Golan Heights then:

Golan Heights remain a highly contested land straddling the borders of Syria and Israel. Two-thirds of the area is currently governed by Israel. The United Nations,[1] the United States,[2] the European Union,[3] the United Kingdom,[4] the Arab League,[5] the International Committee of the Red Cross,[6] Amnesty International,[7] and Human Rights Watch[8] consider the Golan Heights to be territory occupied by Israel and not part of Israel proper. Israel has controlled most of the Golan since the Six Day War in 1967. In 1981, Israel passed the Golan Heights Law, which extended Israeli law and administration throughout the Israeli controlled territory,[9] a move which was condemned by the United Nations Security Council in its motion 497[10]

So Israel is occupying and colonizing part of another country illegally, sound familiar? Yet the rightful owners of the land have no right to fight back? So, using that same logic, if Canada took over parts of the northern US that’s “A-Ok” with Americans? Or if Mexico took part of Texas , that’s alright as well. America would have no right to fight back? Pardon me whilst I laugh mi arse off. Yet this same logic goes flying right out the window when it’s Israel and it’s Arab neighbours. That’s one reason why America and Israel are hated, double standards.

But hey’ lets not use facts, they get in the way of Israel’s version of history.