Israel demolishing solar panels, depriving Palestinian of electricity

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Hundreds of Palestinians will be left without electricity should Israel’s order for the demolition of 8 solar panels in the West Bank go ahead, in what many say is an attempt to drive Palestinians out of the Israeli-controlled part of the territory.

“We are suspended between heaven and earth; the solar panels were a glimmer of hope for us,” Ali Mohamed Ihrizat, the village head of Imenizil, one of the places where the solar panels are scheduled to be demolished, told Agence France-Presse.

The panels were constructed by international charities, but the Israeli authorities say they were built without permission.

Guy Inbar, a spokesman for the Israeli military, has explained the decision: “Using the backing of international assistance does not give immunity to violations.”

This is just the latest standoff in Area C – a festering flashpoint of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict where the battles are fought not with guns and rockets, but permits and bulldozers.

Created under the Oslo Accords in 1995, it constitutes nearly two-thirds of the West Bank, and is administered by Israel. More than 300,000 Jews live there alongside 70,000 Palestinians.

Over the past decade Israel has freely given Area C’s Jewish residents permits to build entire new “settlements,” which Israel’s critics have branded a form of colonization by stealth. In turn, Israel has routinely rejected over 90 per cent of Palestinian applications for construction and demolished nearly 2,000 Palestinian buildings in the last decade.

While the Israeli settlements are hooked up to the Israeli water and electricity grid, the Palestinian settlements have to rely on wells and generators.

“The denial of permits for Palestinians on such a large scale raises the fear that there is a specific policy by the authorities to encourage a ‘silent transfer’ of the Palestinian population from Area C,” claims Peace Now, an Israeli think-tank sympathetic to Palestinians.

This is where the solar panels come in. Funded by European governments, NGOs have built dozens of these devices across Area C, serving an estimated 1,500 Palestinians. Each panel costs tens of thousands of dollars.

An unnamed UN source told the Guardian that the demolition is not random. “From December 2010 to April 2011, we saw a systematic targeting of the water infrastructure in Hebron, Bethlehem and the Jordan valley,” the source said. “Now, in the last couple of months, they are targeting electricity. Two villages in the area have had their electrical poles demolished. There is this systematic effort by the civil administration targeting all Palestinian infrastructure in Hebron.”

A legal challenge by activist group Rabbis for Human Rights has temporarily frozen the demolition orders, though there are no plans as yet to cancel them.

Noam Dotan, an Israeli who heads one of the NGOs that installed the panels, says the Israeli plan is immoral and self-defeating. He told AFP, “The panels are not a security threat. It’s a positive project. What do they want? Do they want the people to be more poor? To be more violent?”

RT

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Comments

41 responses to “Israel demolishing solar panels, depriving Palestinian of electricity”

  1. But we want peace! Palestine never existed and so they should not have electricity, water, food or medical supplies! We want peace with those dirty Arabs who deserve to die. Look these solar panels are being directed towards the Israeli illegal settlements and beaming sun rays at the harmless settlers who walk around with guns and burn crops so they can get cancer over a period of 50 years. we need to destroy them in the name of peace!

    Its weird when they say Palestine never existed so they dont deserve land or a country. Israel didnt exist either, U.S.A didnt exist at one point and neither did most countries on the planet at one point or another. Basically none of us deserve to have a country.

    1. dabshaleem Avatar
      dabshaleem

      ba falastine existed mr whi yu say falastine no exisisted yu salafite mr

      1. Hannibal Avatar

        I think Dab not kno what means sarcastic comment? ba no salafite lol

        1. 5thDrawer Avatar
          5thDrawer

          Dab needs first a translation of ‘sarcastic’ …

  2. But we want peace! Palestine never existed and so they should not have electricity, water, food or medical supplies! We want peace with those dirty Arabs who deserve to die. Look these solar panels are being directed towards the Israeli illegal settlements and beaming run rays at the harmless settlers who walk around with guns and burn crops so they can get cancer over a period of 50 years. we need to destroy them in the name of peace!

    Its weird when they say Palestine never existed so they dont deserve land or a country. Israel didnt exist either, U.S.A didnt exist at one point and neither did most countries on the planet at one point or another. Basically none of us deserve to have a country.

     

    1. dabshaleem Avatar
      dabshaleem

      ba falastine existed mr whi yu say falastine no exisisted yu salafite mr

      1. I think Dab not kno what means sarcastic comment? ba no salafite lol

        1. 5thDrawer Avatar
          5thDrawer

          Dab needs first a translation of ‘sarcastic’ …

  3. Hannibal Avatar

    Your day will come… Just wait so we get rid of all the despots you installed in our countries…

    1. 5thDrawer Avatar
      5thDrawer

      Gee … a ‘moderator’ is checking my last bit … hmmm … not sure I can write it all again. Ah well.

      1. Hannibal Avatar

        huh? who is the moderator?

        1. 5thDrawer Avatar
          5thDrawer

          Targeted by a ‘robot’ I think .. like Prophet for using a wrong word. Maybe it was ‘ecology’ … but who knows? Message was ‘needs to be approved by moderator’.

      2. Hannibal Avatar

        Write it again… For spite lol

        1. 5thDrawer Avatar
          5thDrawer

          I tried Hannibal … 🙂 Not quite the same words .. but the same thoughts. So far, so good. 😉

    2. 5thDrawer Avatar
      5thDrawer

      Gee … a ‘moderator’ is checking my last bit … hmmm … not sure I can write it all again. Ah well.

  4. Your day will come… Just wait so we get rid of all the despots you installed in our countries…

    1. 5thDrawer Avatar
      5thDrawer

      Gee … a ‘moderator’ is checking my last bit … hmmm … not sure I can write it all agin. Ah well.

      1. huh? who is the moderator?

        1. 5thDrawer Avatar
          5thDrawer

          Targeted by a ‘robot’ I think .. like Prophet for using a wrong word. Maybe it was ‘ecology’ … but who knows? Message was ‘needs to be approved by moderator’.

      2. Write it again… For spite lol

        1. 5thDrawer Avatar
          5thDrawer

          I tried Hannibal … 🙂 Not quite the same words .. but the same thoughts.

  5. 5thDrawer Avatar
    5thDrawer

    Adjusted and re-written. See above.

  6. thumbs up for Noam Dotan and shame on the heartless bastards,,permits my ass just another cruel callus act that does not further israels cause or its image as far as basic human rights and quality of life all of us can relate to.

  7. thumbs up for Noam Dotan and shame on the heartless bastards,,permits my ass just another cruel callus act that does not further israels cause or its image as far as basic human rights and quality of life all of us can relate to.

  8. 5thDrawer Avatar
    5thDrawer

    Well, wouldn’t you just know that some wonderful charity would get it wrong and drop those solar panels exactly where some ‘future land developer’ – in an INCREASINGLY  OVERPOPULATED wasteland – would want to pour cement ugliness for hovels for people to crawl into away from the sun?

    And really, can’t they be moved to the rooftops like the Germans do it?

    I mean, considering the fact the Sea of Galilea is short by 1/3 and the Jordan river is a trickle compared to 100 years ago thanks to making more than 2.4 children per family, you have to wonder why Lebanon, Israel, Cyprus, Turkey, and a few others basking in never-ending sunshine want to fight over oil and gas and pollute the Mediterranean even more than their human waste does now. (We won’t mention red chemicals in rivers here.)

    Global warming decimates the snow on Mt. Lebanon and they want to burn oil. Solar seems a better way but they want to smash sun collectors and do war instead. No?

    OH. I forgot. Sorry. The SUN GOD does not raise prices every year !! And they cant figure out who’s side He’s on.
    The energy flows continuously and no-one needs a pipeline. That’s just crazy. Can’t charge much for battery maintenance, after all. Even a child running his lap-top can be taught to do that.

    And goodness knows there’s a lot of free silicon blowing in the wind in this world …. although I think MOSTLY the sand settles in people’s ears and blocks the brains.

    Ah well .. a few Radical Rabis were thinking … give them credit for that … but how many kids do they have? And talk about electric poles?? Look what happened when trying to place ONE in Lebanon. Another small war erupts. And everyone steals the copper lines anyway.

    Welcome to the ‘modern’ world. Exemplified by  those ‘smart’ Israelis.
    Well …
    Listen. You figured out something called an ‘iron dome’. Right? So if you want to make something from the Sun God who doesn’t charge a penny, work on a ‘huge sunbrella’ to limit the input to the collectors and tax by time raised or lowered. No need to break up a charitable donation … just tax it.

    1. Hannibal Avatar

      I second that… I like the SUN GOD although “he” may be finite 😉

      1. 5thDrawer Avatar
        5thDrawer

        But now we know the approximate time-line on that too, Hannibal. We could be on another planet with a newer Sun-God by that time …. making mysterious ancient evidence of past events for the next confused set of sects. 😉
        Not that I want to get into another ‘Theory’ course … of course. 😉 But you know those base stones under the Temple of Bachus at Baalbeck couldn’t possibly have been moved and laid (and so perfectly) by any known humans, and even their radioactive levels are different … so …
        What we can’t tell is when the Big Collapse will begin … hmmmm 😉

        1. dabshaleem Avatar
          dabshaleem

          no sun god mr only 1 god mr yu suniest mr

        2. Hannibal Avatar

          @dabshaleem:disqus you mr. is made of star dust… Sun God is a metaphor… do you kno what means metaphor?

  9. 5thDrawer Avatar
    5thDrawer

    Well, wouldn’t you just know that some wonderful charity would get it wrong and drop those solar panels exactly where some ‘future land developer’ – in an INCREASINGLY  OVERPOPULATED wasteland – would want to pour cement ugliness for hovels for people to crawl into away from the sun?

    And really, can’t they be moved to the rooftops like the Germans do it?

    I mean, considering the fact the Sea of Galilea is short by 1/3 and the Jordan river is a trickle compared to 100 years ago thanks to making more than 2.4 children per family, you have to wonder why Lebanon, Israel, Cyprus, Turkey, and a few others basking in never-ending sunshine want to fight over oil and gas and pollute the Mediterranean even more than their human waste does now. (We won’t mention red chemicals in rivers here.)

    Global warming decimates the snow on Mt. Lebanon and they want to burn oil. Solar seems a better way but they want to smash sun collectors and do war instead. No?

    OH. I forgot. Sorry. The SUN GOD does not raise prices every year !! And they cant figure out who’s side He’s on.

    The energy flows continuously and no-one needs a pipeline. That’s just crazy. Can’t charge much for battery maintenance, after all. Even a child running his lap-top can be taught to do that.

    And goodness knows there’s a lot of free silicon blowing in the wind in this world …. although I think MOSTLY the sand settles in people’s ears and blocks the brains.

    Ah well .. a few Radical Rabis were thinking … give them credit for that … but how many kids do they have? And talk about electric poles?? Look what happened when trying to place ONE in Lebanon. Another small war erupts. And everyone steals the copper lines anyway.

    Welcome to the ‘modern’ world. Exemplified by  those ‘smart’ Israelis.

    1. I second that… I like the SUN GOD although “he” may be finite 😉

      1. 5thDrawer Avatar
        5thDrawer

        But now we know the approximate time-line on that too, Hannibal. We could be on another planet with a newer Sun-God by that time …. making mysterious ancient evidence of past events for the next confused set of sects. 😉

        1. dabshaleem Avatar
          dabshaleem

          no sun god mr only 1 god mr yu suniest mr

        2. @dabshaleem:disqus you mr. is made of star dust… Sun God is a metaphor… do you kno what means metaphor?

  10. Adam Yonatan Ben Yoel Avatar
    Adam Yonatan Ben Yoel

    Israel provides them with electricity. Jordan didn’t think to do that. Israel is the world’s leader in solar energy. Mess with that at your peril. 

  11. Israel provides them with electricity. Jordan didn’t think to do that. Israel is the world’s leader in solar energy. Mess with that at your peril. 

    1. 5thDrawer Avatar
      5thDrawer

      🙂

      1. Free and Israel are synonymous 😉 

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