Palestinian/ Israeli update 6/15/2017...Gaza Power Crisis

Rights groups warn of humanitarian disaster in Gaza

Israel Set to Meet With Egypt and the E.U. Over Gaza Power Crisis

UN blames Palestinians for electricity crisis Israel caused in Gaza

https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/un-blames-palestinians-electricity-crisis-israel-caused-gaza

……………………….While it is hardly surprising that Israel tries to shirk these responsibilities, it is shocking that a senior UN relief official is assisting Israel to evade its obligations by blaming the victims.

Sadly, this is only the latest example of the UN’s blatant anti-Palestinian bias and complicity in Israel’s abuses, occupation and the siege of Gaza.

Last year, The Electronic Intifada revealed that UN officials received legal advice that the UN-backed “Gaza Reconstruction Mechanism” is illegal and violates the very “right to life” of the Palestinian people.

The UN-brokered agreement was supposedly meant to facilitate reconstruction after Israel’s devastating 2014 assault on Gaza, but only reinforced and gave a UN stamp of approval to Israel’s control over the lives of the territory’s two million people.

Blackmail

Egypt’s military regime, which supplies some electricity to Gaza, is reportedly offering to provide more in exchange for Hamas handing over wanted men, a blackmail attempt that uses the lives of Palestinian civilians as bargaining chips.

“Israel is not just a service provider, responding neutrally to a client’s request,” Gisha, an Israeli human rights group that monitors the blockade of Gaza, reminded Israeli officials this week. “Given its extensive control over life in the Strip, Israel is responsible for enabling normal life for its residents.”

Despite the intolerable reality in Gaza, “the Israeli cabinet has decided to accept the Palestinian Authority’s cruel plan to further reduce the power supply to Gaza,” the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem stated on Tuesday. But it warned that Israel remains ultimately responsible: “the reality in Gaza is the result of Israel’s handiwork, achieved by its decade-long implementation of a brutal policy. Israel can, and must, change this reality.”

It ought to be UN officials who are clearly warning Israel to abide by its legal obligations and calling for accountability if it refuses to do so.

Robert Piper has chosen instead to help Israel cover up its crimes…………

Palestinians call on people to participate in Quds Day rallies

Your Evening News From Israel – June 14, 2017