Israel’s Energy, Water and National Infrastructure Minister Yuval Steinitz was present Monday with Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah when officials cut the ribbon at a ceremony to celebrate a new electrical substation in a field near Jenin. Also present were Israel Electric Corporation chairman Yiftah Ron-Tal, IDF COGAT (Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories) and Major-General Yoav Mordechai.
The Jewish State is providing the Al-Jalameh Substation, which now becomes the first-ever Palestinian Authority-owned power station along with three more to be built in Ramallah, Shechem (north in Samaria) and Tarkumiah (near Hebron in the south). The new infrastructure comes as part of a new agreement to boost power to the Palestinian Authority, while reducing its feed to Gaza.
The deal signed between the Israel Electric Corporation with the Palestinian Authority government calls for Israel to provide 60 megawatts of electricity to Palestinian Authority-controlled areas of Judea and Samaria, as purchased by Ramallah from the Israel Electric Corporation.
The power station has the capability of handling up to 135 megawatts, however, if Ramallah chooses to buy more.
The deal also places Ramallah in a first-ever independent role in terms of the distribution and management of the electricity once it reaches the substation. Moreover, it is the Palestinian Authority which will be responsible for repairs — not Israel — because the substation is now owned by the Palestinian Electric Authority and the PA, whose teams were trained by IEC to maintain and repair the facility.
The power station was purchased for the PA by the international community at a cost of 12 million euros, funded in part by USAID, the European Investment Bank, Italy, Norway and the European Union, according to Times of Israel.
Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas has refused to pay Israel for most of Gaza’s electricity, because the ruling Hamas terrorist faction continues to withhold the monies paid by residents when they pay their own electricity bills, rather than transfer the funds to Ramallah as reimbursement. Instead, Abbas directed Israel to drop the feed by 40 percent last month until Hamas sees fit to pay its bill.