Challenging Hamas, Palestinian Authority Cuts Electricity Payments for Gaza
If Israel does cut electricity to Gaza, Mr. Abusada said, "the Palestinians will be blaming Israel." Hamas, the Islamic militant
group, won Palestinian parliamentary elections in 2006, dealing Mr. Abbas and his mainstream Fatah party a humiliating blow.
By ISABEL KERSHNERAPRIL 27, 2017
JERUSALEM — The Palestinian Authority informed Israel on Thursday
that it would no longer pay for the electricity that Israel supplies to the Gaza Strip, in an extraordinary push by the authority to reassert some control after years of rule in Gaza by the militant group Hamas.
Palestinian Authority said that We are already facing a catastrophic situation regarding electricity.
The schism between the Palestinian Authority, which is based in the West Bank
and led by President Mahmoud Abbas, and Hamas, which seized full control of Gaza in 2007, has left Palestinians deeply divided and has hurt efforts to reach a peace deal with Israel.
Hamas officials denounced the move, describing it as a "dangerous escalation." "It is a clear
aggression," Hazim Kassim, a Hamas spokesman, said of the Palestinian Authority’s decision.
At the same time, Mr. Abbas is being challenged by a mass hunger strike of Palestinian security prisoners
in Israeli prisons, now in its 11th day and led by one of his main rivals within Fatah.