Israel denied it hit the facility, but the Guardian reported, that the plant’s director Mohammed al-Sharif said, “The power plant is finished,” and Gaza energy authority official Fathi Sheik Khalil added, “We need at least one year to repair the power plant, the turbines, the fuel tanks and the control room.”
And what did the Bethlehem-based Ma’an News Agency reported this week?
“Gaza’s only power plant is ready to begin running again as soon as a shipment of fuel arrives to the Strip, the plant’s executive manager said Saturday…. The power plant was targeted during the Israeli offensive on Gaza by shelling on July 28, completely knocking it out of commission. The Gaza power authority said at the time that the damages from the attack could take up to a year to entirely fix.”
Those Gaza Arabs really are remarkable, fixing in one month what it said would take a year to repair.
Chalk that next to Jorgensen’s assertion that it will take 18 years – not 17 and not 19 – to rebuild homes.
It indeed might take that long if Hamas is in charge because its officials will find good use for international financial aid, such as filling their pockets.
“I think no one wants the Palestinian Authority to collapse,” Jorgensen said. “The humanitarian disaster would be so immense.”
Gaza has been one human disaster since Israel withdrew civilians and soldiers in 2005.
Gaza was flourishing after Israel took control of the region in the Six-Day War in 1967.
But you won’t read that in reports from the Associated Press, Reuters or AFP, and certainly not from The New York Times.
It remains to be seen what the real economic growth for Judea and Samaria will be by the end of the year, but don’t be surprised if it is more than the 0.5 percent predicted by the World Bank.