Biodun.BBC: Yuval Steinitz

Sunday, January 7, 2018

Israel says will resume power supply to Gaza on Monday

January 8, 2018 02H05 GMT/UTC/ZULU TIME

by Jenny Feder and Biodun Iginla, BBC News and Reuters, Jerusalem

JERUSALEM - Israel said it will restore full electricity supply to the Hamas dominated Gaza Strip on Monday following a request last week by the Palestinians who said they will resume payments.

Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas withdrew his guarantee to pay Israel for power in April, leaving Gaza’s two million residents with only three to four hours of electricity a day as supplies were cut by about half.

Abbas’s move, which affected schools, factories, hospitals and households, was part of a bid to press Hamas to loosen its hold over the enclave a decade after the Islamist movement seized the territory from forces loyal to him.

A brief statement by Israeli Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz on Sunday said he had ordered the power lines, that can deliver up to 120 megawatts of electricity, to be prepared for full operation “no later than tomorrow (Monday).” The move will restore an additional 50 megawatts of power to Gaza.

A Gaza economist said the restoration of electricity from Israel, the enclave’s main electricity supplier, could raise power delivery to six hours. Gaza’s sole power station generates only a small amount of power.

Prompted partly by Abbas’s sanctions and fears of financial and political isolation, Hamas signed an Egyptian-brokered reconciliation agreement with his Fatah movement in October and agreed to hand over administrative control of the Gaza Strip to the Palestinian Authority.

But both groups have failed to finalize details of the deal, which had been due to be completed on December 1. The Authority’s decision to resume the electricity payments could help smooth the way towards completing the accord.

The resumption of power delivery comes at a time of heightened Israeli-Palestinian tensions.

Palestinians have been mounting protests in the occupied West Bank and violence has flared along the Israel-Gaza border since U.S. President Donald Trump announced on December 6 that he was recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

Palestinians want East Jerusalem as the capital of a state they seek to establish in the occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

Sunday, November 19, 2017

Israeli minister: we have secret ties with 'many' Arab states

20 November 2017 - 07H00 GMT/UTC/ZULU TIME

by Jenny Feder and Biodun Iginla, France24, Jerusalem. Disclosure: Jenny Feder and Biodun Iginla had a romantic relationship when she was based in New York.

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An Israeli cabinet minister said on Sunday that Israel had covert ties with "many" Arab and Muslim states but was obliged not to name them at the other sides' request.

A rare interview given by the head of Israel's armed forces to a Saudi-owned news site was published on Thursday, further fuelling talk of close links.

It followed previous broad hints by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and accusations by Hezbollah that Saudi Arabia was pushing Israel to attack the Lebanese Shiite group.

"We have ties, some of them secret, with many Arab and Muslim states," Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz told Israeli army radio on Sunday.

"Usually the one who wants those ties to be discreet is the other side," he said in response to a question about ties with Riyadh.

"We respect the wishes of the other side when contacts are developing, whether it is with Saudi Arabia or other Arab or Muslim countries."

Although Saudi Arabia and Israel have no official diplomatic relations, they share a common enemy in Iran, with both seeking to limit the Islamic republic's expanding influence in the Middle East.

Netanyahu has also spoken repeatedly and with pride about growing rapprochement with "moderate Arab states" without naming them, although he is assumed to be referring to Saudi Arabia and other Gulf monarchies.

"We stand shoulder to shoulder with countries of the moderate camp in the Arab world, in the face of radical Islam," he told Israel's parliament last week.

"I think that this growing closeness and consultation is first and foremost good for security and ultimately for peace," he added.

Tensions between the Saudis and Iran have intensified in recent weeks, with Riyadh-backed Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri saying he is stepping down over what he called Iran's grip on his country.

Iran-backed Hezbollah, which is dominant in Lebanon, is also a great enemy of Israel with which it fought a war in 2006.

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said on November 10 that he had "information that Saudi Arabia has asked Israel to strike Lebanon".

Iran's President Hassan Rouhani last week echoed the allegation.