{"id":96253,"date":"2017-07-31T12:00:01","date_gmt":"2017-07-31T11:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=96253"},"modified":"2017-07-31T10:34:37","modified_gmt":"2017-07-31T09:34:37","slug":"shedding-legal-light-on-the-gaza-electricity-crisis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2017\/07\/shedding-legal-light-on-the-gaza-electricity-crisis\/","title":{"rendered":"Shedding Legal Light on the Gaza Electricity Crisis"},"content":{"rendered":"

The bowing of Israeli occupation authorities to the request of the Palestinian Authority to further reduce energy supplies does not exonerate them.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Palestinian children collect water in Khan Yunis, located in the southern Gaza Strip.
Photo: Reuters<\/p><\/div>\n

30 Jul 2017 – <\/em>Israel is the main supplier of electricity and fuel to the Gaza Strip, Palestine.<\/p>\n

When the functioning of vital services such as hospitals and the pumping of clean water were seriously compromised by Israel\u2019s reduction and limitations on the fuel supply for Gaza\u2019s only power plant in 2007, a group of Palestinians unsuccessfully petitioned the Israeli court alleging that the reductions breached Israeli obligations under International \u00a0Law. The subsequent judgment is known as the Bassiouni decision.<\/p>\n

The Israeli state had contended that the reductions did not violate the \u201chumanitarian minimum\u201d \u2013 a legal standard that Israeli human rights group Gisha pointed out at the time does not in fact exist in international law. Nor does humanitarian law sanction the deliberate reduction of a population\u2019s living standards to a \u2018humanitarian minimum.\u2019<\/p>\n

Two subsequent petitions by Gisha on the same issue were similarly unsuccessful. The first, in May 2008, followed the reduction of the fuel supply to below the \u2018humanitarian minimum\u2019 the Israeli authorities had promised to uphold. The second petition was submitted in January 2009 after Israeli authorities had further reduced the supply to 30 percent\u00a0of what it had deemed the \u2018humanitarian minimum\u2019 for several months, then launched a massive military offensive exacerbating the already-dire power and water shortages the reduction had caused.<\/p>\n

OPINION: How Trump and Netanyahu Pushed Palestinians into a Corner<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Since 2009 the situation has fluctuated, at its best with periods of 16 hours power per 24 hours when the tunnels between Gaza and Egypt were operating; since their destruction in 2014, four to six hours supply every 24 has been the norm. In April 2017 the fuel to run Gaza\u2019s only power plant ran out. The Palestinian Authority refused to pay for more fuel, and ordered Israel to reduce supply, resulting in a major crisis in May and June: two hours power every 24, and some days with none at all.<\/p>\n

Israeli authorities contend they are merely acting as a commercial entity, and not providing fuel which has not been paid for. This stance has no justification in law.<\/p>\n

httpv:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=njZ78_iaY74<\/p>\n

Legal Framework<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201c\u2026Israel continues to be an occupying power in Gaza despite the 2005 disengagement,\u201d concluded The Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, ICC,\u00a0in a November 2014 decision.<\/p>\n

This fatally undermines the Israeli contention that it is not bound by the laws of belligerent occupation under international law as it \u201cno longer has effective control over what happens in Gaza\u201d \u00a0– the foundation on which the Bassiouni decision rested.<\/p>\n

The obligations of occupying powers are codified in the Regulations of the Fourth Hague Convention, and the rights of the populations of occupied territory and the rules for administering such territory are further clarified in the Fourth Geneva Convention and Additional Protocol I.<\/p>\n

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Additionally, the International Court of Justice, ICJ,\u00a0found in 2004 that the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, ICCPR, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, ICESCR,\u00a0and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, CRC,\u00a0are applicable within the Occupied Palestinian Territory, OPT.<\/p>\n

Several international court decisions regarding situations in the Congo, Palestine and the former Yugoslavia have further confirmed that the occupying power is obliged to comply with its human rights obligations in occupied territories, and in respect of people placed under its effective control as a result of occupation.
\nGeneral Comment No. 14 of the United Nations Economic and Social Council directly contradicts Israeli authorities view that they are only obliged to \u201callow the Gaza Strip to receive only what is needed in order to provide the essential needs of the civilian population.\u201d It actually requires Israel to ensure \u201c\u2026the services and conditions necessary for the realization of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health.\u201d<\/p>\n

These core obligations are non-derogable. They cannot be abrogated for any reason, including national security.<\/p>\n

httpv:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=XMED6wzwaNE<\/p>\n

Current Situation<\/strong><\/p>\n

The current humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip reached crisis point in May 2017 \u2013 a crisis widely and repeatedly reported by the United Nations and numerous non-governmental organizations and media. The U.N. reported that due to the electricity crisis:<\/p>\n