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Thursday, September 29, 2016
Palestinian electricity company still unaware of details of PA-Israel

Palestinian electricity company still unaware of details of PA-Israel debt
deal
Sept. 29, 2016 4:16 P.M. (Updated: Sept. 29, 2016 6:42 P.M.)
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=773335

BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- The Palestinian Energy and Natural Resources Authority
(PENRA) has still not shared details of an agreement regarding an
Israeli-Palestinian debt deal with the Jerusalem District Electricity
Company (JDECO), the electricity organization told Ma’an

JDECO Director Hisham al-Umari told Ma’an on Tuesday evening that he had
high hopes for the agreement signed by the Palestinian Authority (PA) and
Israel on Sept. 13, set to resolve longstanding debt issues between the PA
and the Israel Electric Corporation (IEC) and to position the PA as the sole
authority over electricity distribution across the occupied West Bank.

The PA’s debt to IEC, now amounting to some two billion shekels ($530
million), has been a source of tension between the two parties for years, as
the IEC has repeatedly cut off electricity to the West Bank, most recently
in April, when it targeted the Hebron, Bethlehem and Jericho districts in a
move which was denounced as constituting collective punishment.

Israeli authorities have withheld tax revenues collected on behalf of the PA
in the past over unpaid bills owed to Israeli companies, threatening last
year to deduct over 1 billion shekels from taxes withheld from the PA in
order to cover missed electricity bills.

Al-Umari said he hoped the agreement would improve electricity services in
the West Bank and “free electricity from Israeli control.”

However, two weeks after the signature of the agreement, JDECO was still
unaware of the details of the agreement, al-Umari said.

Al-Umari said that JDECO had filed some 4,000 lawsuits in Palestinian courts
across the West Bank to try to collect debts amounting to about 300 million
shekels ($79.8 million) from subscribers.

The JDECO director added that the company had carried out major maintenance
works and installed hundreds of new electricity poles and dozens of high
tension transformers in preparation for winter months.

However, al-Umari said he was still worried regarding the possibility of
power cuts in Ramallah and north Jerusalem, "because Israel has rejected
JDECO requests to increase power supply to the Palestinian territory."

JDECO, he said, paid Israel in 2012 to increase the power supply to the
occupied Palestinian territory by 40 Megawatt, but the improvement has yet
to be made.

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