Haaretz
Av 28, 5766
It's hot, very hot, in the Gaza Strip. But over
the last two months, ever since Israel bombed the new power station in the
center of the Strip, the heat has become unbearable. The bombing has
disrupted the supply of electricity to some 1.5 million residents; food in
refrigerators goes bad, the patients in the hospitals groan, industry and
work are paralyzed, traffic is gridlocked and there is a severe water
shortage.
On the night of June 28, the Israel Air Force bombed the
power station as part of Operation Summer Rains, destroying its six
transformers. The assault was approved by the security cabinet, and was
intended to pressure the Palestinians into releasing Gilad Shalit, the
captured soldier.
The modern power station, financed by Enron in
partnership with a Palestinian company, was completely paralyzed, and the
Gaza Strip lost some 60 percent of its supply of electricity. Gaza buys
the remaining 40 percent from the Israel Electricity Corporation.
On Sunday this week, the burned out and destroyed transformers
were still lying near the power station's fence. Two were made by Israeli
company Elco Industries, and four by the German ABB. The station, located
between Gaza and Dir al Balah, was inaugurated at the end of 2001. It was
to provide power not only to Gaza but to the West Bank too, after being
linked in the future to the Israeli network.
Israel knew exactly
what it was bombing, says station manager Dr. Drar Abu-Sisi. It's
impossible to operate the station without the transformers. Replacing them
would take at least a year - either by ordering new transformers or by
hooking up to the Egyptian power network.
With a capacity of 140
megawatts, the power station was the most advanced in the Arab world.
Israel could have paralyzed the station by simply stopping its fuel
supply, without putting it out of action for months.
"Had they
told us on the phone to cut the power off, we'd have done so right away,"
says Abu-Sisi, who is convinced that the bombing was politically
motivated.
"It was a foolish attack, which only sows more and more
hatred for Israel," he says.
Each transformer costs around $2
million, but the main damage is indirect - the loss of income to the power
station, grave damage to all its systems that could rust, and the huge
blow to the Gaza Strip's miserable economy.
The Israel Defense
Forces Spokesman's Office told Haaretz Monday that "the bombing was
intended to disrupt the activity of the terror networks directly and
indirectly associated with Gilad Shalit's kidnapping."
Meanwhile,
the station's 160 workers are out of work and Gaza has electrical power
for only a few hours a day. Those who can afford it buy generators, and
everyone goes up on the rooftops at night to escape the burdensome heat
inside.