What’s it like to spend at least one-third, if not the whole day, without electricity? One and a half million people have been living like that for over a week in what is just the latest chapter in the ongoing electricity crisis in the Gaza Strip. If there is a common theme that persists throughout this saga, it is the perpetual, imposed sense of “living on the edge“.

In November, the European Union, which funds the industrial diesel needed  to operate Gaza’s only  power station, announced that in a joint decision with the Palestinian Authority (PA), its funding worth 97 million Euros per year would end, due in part to the global economic crisis. Despite the fact that it warned of its intentions months in advance, no alternative arrangement was made, although some European states have expressed willingness to provide funding for the PA to cover the cost of the diesel. In the meantime, the Gaza power station was forced to limit itself to an output of just 30 megawatts, almost a third of its potential generation capacity (80 megawatts). According to media reports, another factor that is hampering resolution of the funding issue is the internal Palestinian conflict and the PA’s demand that Hamas contribute to the costs or collect money from consumers. The PA is effectively inviting Hamas, which has not previously been involved in electricity generation in Gaza, to play an active role in the procurement and funding of the industrial diesel supply for Gaza’s power plant. This week, the power plant increased production to 60 megawatt after receiving additional fuel deliveries, but it is not clear whether a solution has been found.

Gaza Power Plant

Indeed, it seems that all the players in this drama are exploiting a need as basic and obvious as electricity in order to promote their political objectives. Despite the fact that the power station is clearly a vital civilian infrastructure, despite the fact that it is largely privately owned, and despite the fact that the industrial diesel is used solely to operate the power station’s turbines, Israel decided to bomb the station in 2006, inflicting damage which has yet to be fully repaired. Moreover, since 2007, Israel has limited the transfer of industrial diesel to the Gaza Strip to a “minimum” that it set at 2.2 million liters per week, despite the fact that in reality 3.5 million liters are required for the present maximum output of the power station.

The Israeli policy of “reduction to the minimum” means that the power station has no ability to stockpile reserves of industrial diesel to prepare for interruption of supply. So when supply is interrupted, this time due to funding problems and the conflict within the Palestinian leadership, 1.5 million people need to learn to live with power outages for 8 hours or more per day.

Last week Israel proudly boasted of a sharp increase in the transfer of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip. This announcement coincided with the publication of a statement of concern by the European Union regarding the humanitarian situation in Gaza, noting that there has been no improvement since January 2009, when the war ended.

One can’t help but wonder if an increase in the supply of aid is really something to be proud of. Israel isn’t the one paying for the aid. On the contrary, international organizations claim that due to the problems and restrictions created by Israel, they are forced to spend millions of dollars on logistics to work around the restrictions, instead of investing all their resources on the aid itself. They also say that the increase in supply over the past year stems from the drastically increased need for aid following the war.

Besides the fact that Israel is once again proud of itself for overcoming obstacles of its own creation, and that it deliberately chose a point of reference which is very low, the connection between the closure policy and the increased need for humanitarian aid should also be taken into consideration. In 2007, aid represented only 3% of all imports into the Gaza Strip. Yet in 2009, aid now represents 26% of all imports.

So long as the economy is paralyzed – with 95% of factories closed, Israel continuing to prevent the import of raw materials for industry, and the unemployment rate having risen 30% since the start of the closure to its current rate of 41.5% – it is doubtful whether there is any possibility that the need for aid will decrease.

Is this what the future has in store for the Gaza Strip – its residents left dependent on aid while the process of de-development continues?