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Palestinians shopping at a store lit by a gas lamp during a power outage in Gaza City on Tuesday. (AP)
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Shipments of EU-funded fuel to Gaza power plant resume
By Barak Ravid, Haaretz Correspondent and News Agencies

The European Union resumed funding for fuel shipments to Gaza's main power plant Wednesday, a Palestinian official said, after Brussels received assurances that revenues from selling the fuel would not be diverted to Hamas, the extreme Palestinian group that seized control of the territory in June.

Several fuel trucks were seen crossing into the coastal strip via Nahal Oz crossing, said the Palestinian Energy Authority's deputy chairman, Kanaan Abaid.

360,000 liters of fuel have so far been transferred to Gaza, Army Radio reported Wednesday. The Gaza power plant needs roughly 270,000 liters of fuel per day in order to supply the entire strip with electricity.

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"Now the fuel shipments are entering Gaza and the trucks carrying the shipments are ... heading towards the power plant," Abbaid said.

The plant cut off power last week, causing widespread blackouts, after the EU stopped paying for daily fuel shipments made to Gaza by a private Israeli company. Israel supplies most of Gaza's electricity under interim peace accords.

"It is a joke, this whole story," Israeli Infrastructure Benjamin Ben-Eliezer told Israel Radio. "We are the only country in the world whose installations get bombed and still supplies them with electricity."

Ben-Eliezer appeared to be referring to rockets militants in Gaza have aimed at a major power station in southern Israel. He said Prime Minister Ehud Olmert had approved plans to build another power line from Israel to Gaza.

The EU cut off aid funding on Sunday because of suspicions that Gaza's Hamas rulers were pocketing electricity revenues. The move has left more than half of Gaza's 1.4 million residents largely without power.

The decision to renew the funding came after the EU received assurances that the supervision over the money would be stepped up in order to ensure that the funds are not used for purposes other than its specified aim.

The crisis was resolved through negotiations between the Europeans and Fatah in the West Bank, and after Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh vowed that his organization would "accept any conclusion reached by an independent investigation of the issue by an external committee."

On Tuesday, deposed Palestinian prime minister and Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh denied that his group was taxing electricity revenues, and invited the European Union to send a team to investigate the allegations.

"We challenge anyone who says the government has taken one shekel from the budget of the electric company or one liter of gasoline," Haniyeh told a Hamas conference in Gaza. "We welcome any independent inquiry mission to investigate how we are not involved in the electricity business in Gaza."

He called the allegations an attempt by Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas' government to discredit Hamas, and accused the EU of playing into Abbas' hands.

The Gaza power plant shut down operations at midday on Sunday, causing widespread blackouts, after the EU halted its payment for fuel provided by Israeli company Dor Alon Energy.

EU officials said on Monday that the EU had stopped paying for fuel shipments to the Gaza Strip's main power plant over concerns that Hamas would tax electricity to fund its government in the territory.

"We have received information that Hamas is planning to introduce taxes on electricity bills and this will not allow us to continue paying for the fuel," a senior EU official said.

He said the EU would be ready to resume the payment of the fuel once it received assurances that Hamas would not siphon off funds from electricity proceeds.

"We need to make sure that our aid is exclusively for the benefit of the population," the EU official told Reuters.

"We're ready to resume payments within hours once we have assurances that these taxes will not be introduced," EU spokeswoman Antonia Mochan said.

She added the EU executive pays for 25-30 percent of the overall electricity supply to the Gaza Strip, worth $8.75 million a month.

The fuel cutoff - which began on Friday - has idled vital electricity generators, leaving at least half of Gaza's 1.4 million residents sweltering in the summer heat, and in the dark.

It has also confronted Hamas with a major crisis just weeks after it seized control of the strip in June from security forces allied with Abbas' Fatah.

One of Abbas' first decrees after Hamas seized control of Gaza in June was to exempt its 1.5 million residents from paying taxes, a move designed to keep Hamas from collecting any of the local revenues.

In recent weeks, Hamas has been going door to door in Gaza ordering residents to pay long-overdue electricity bills. While Hamas denies it controls the electricity company, Fatah insists it does, citing the arrest last month of a director of the company.

Israeli and Egyptian utilities that power the rest of Gaza have stepped up production, but even with these stopgap measures, Gazans in affected areas have been living without power about 20 hours a day.
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  1.   By inviting the EU to probe, Haniyeh is attempting to interact 14:30  |  Petra 21/08/07
  2.   This is unacceptable 15:24  |  Aram 21/08/07
  3.   Clearly, this was abbas & the cabal`s attempt to further pressure 15:35  |  lakshmi 21/08/07
  4.   IF THE EU IS CONCERNED..... 15:36  |  Brant 21/08/07
  5.   Let the government of Gaza pay for its own electricity 15:56  |  Briton 21/08/07
  6.   this is unacceptable to no 2 16:02  |  Tina 21/08/07
  7.   EU and Gaza 16:13  |  Chris 21/08/07
  8.   No real friend? 16:16  |  Outsider 21/08/07
  9.   What Tangled Webs They Weave When They Practise To Deceive 16:16  |  Eli 21/08/07
  10.   @EU: Fight to free our boy Gilad Shalit! 16:16  |  civilized kid 21/08/07
  11.   Paying one`s way 16:19  |  Outsider 21/08/07
  12.   #5 Briton 16:23  |  Chris 21/08/07
  13.   to ARAM 16:30  |  MLK 21/08/07
  14.   Iran can pay 16:33  |  Jay 21/08/07
  15.   "We challenge anyone who says the government 16:39  |  ILSupporter 21/08/07
  16.   As normal, the good guys aren`t so good 16:39  |  Natallie Durson 21/08/07
  17.   To Briton 16:43  |  Logician 21/08/07
  18.   Petra # 1. I fully agree with you about the motives of Hamas, and 16:50  |  Albert 21/08/07
  19.   tina - no 7 16:56  |  shiny 21/08/07
  20.   #16 - what are you talking about! Say what you want to say ! 17:12  |  redmike 21/08/07
  21.   Ex-PM Haniyeh Doesn`t Get It 17:18  |  Jeff Northridge 21/08/07
  22.   21 Jeff Northridge - Missing Pieces 17:45  |  Mark of Lewiston 21/08/07
  23.   9Eli,Wow,you do have an imagination,but evidently the sensible EU 18:35  |  lakshmi 21/08/07
  24.   Marc of Lewiston #22 18:45  |  Guido 21/08/07
  25.   I know they will resume it back again 18:51  |  Tamir Palestine 21/08/07
  26.   Guido - Sources and Methods 19:28  |  Mark of Lewiston 21/08/07
  27.   # 22 Mark of Lewiston 19:39  |  Lynn 21/08/07
  28.   Stupid that EU pays for the oil, it is Israel`s responsibility 20:15  |  Petteri 21/08/07
  29.   I think the EU should stop all assistance 20:27  |  Robert 21/08/07
  30.   The EU saw they were played by Israel 20:34  |  Natallie Durson 21/08/07
  31.   EU, not in my name 20:59  |  KUTW 21/08/07
  32.   EU aiding Mafia-Hamas elected by terror Gazans 21:00  |  Joseph E . 21/08/07
  33.   #28 21:08  |  Jonathan 21/08/07
  34.   Logician 21:33  |  Lynn 21/08/07
  35.   to #30 Natallie Durson 21:36  |  Lavy 21/08/07
  36.   #7 Chris, on casting oranges into the sea. 22:04  |  Ben Alofs 21/08/07
  37.   27 Lynn 22:39  |  Mark of Lewiston 21/08/07
  38.   Natallie Durson Aug.13 2007 22:39  |  Man deVoshkes 21/08/07
  39.   double indemnity 23:02  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 21/08/07
  40.   See the positive effect 23:30  |  Axel 21/08/07
  41.   # 7 chris 23:36  |  Axel 21/08/07
  42.   # 31 kutw 23:38  |  Axel 21/08/07
  43.   ABBAS IS HAMRFUL TO PALESTINIANS 00:02  |  Jad 22/08/07
  44.   lies damn lies and Fateh 00:16  |  Steven Hunter 22/08/07
  45.   EU "bail out" 00:38  |  Mark Katzman 22/08/07
  46.   I thought Israel blew up Gaza power 00:41  |  American Patriot 22/08/07
  47.   Corruption in Hamas? Well Well Well 00:56  |  Jane 22/08/07
  48.   Kadima disregarding Gaza terror as long as they pay fuel 01:00  |  Joseph E . 22/08/07
  49.   To Illogician 17: there`s no such thing as free electricity 01:45  |  Briton 22/08/07
  50.   #10 - Shalit Would Be Home Now if Israel`s leaders Gave a Damn 02:54  |  Mr. Knowitall 22/08/07
  51.   Lakshmi # 23 - I Just Wanted To See If I Can Outdo You With My 03:28  |  Eli 22/08/07
  52.   #44 Jane 05:36  |  maoriboy 22/08/07
  53.   Hamas took over Gaza,you mean no one told them they had to pay 06:39  |  Hausman 22/08/07
  54.   DO NOT tell CFOOL.He says Israel is blocking the fuel 10:35  |  PETER.SM 22/08/07
  55.   HAMAS assures that they will not tax.What more does the EU need? 10:39  |  PETER SM 22/08/07
  56.   MOSSAD DID IT 10:55  |  indrajaya 22/08/07
  57.   to Robert no 29 11:26  |  Tina 22/08/07
  58.   "The European Union resumed fuel shipments" ? 11:59  |  redmike 22/08/07
  59.   Hamas was acting quite sensibly 12:00  |  Guido 22/08/07
  60.   INDRAJAYA.shouts for his brothers but never offers proof. 12:02  |  PETER SM 22/08/07
  61.   #56 FAKE INDRAJAYA - english too good - HA-HA-HA 12:13  |  indrajaya 22/08/07
  62.   TO SAVE THEIR OWN ASHES 12:25  |  indrajaya 22/08/07
  63.   # 56, #61, FAKE INDRAJAYA 12:27  |  indrajaya 22/08/07
  64.   All this still doesn`t protect the Israeli truck drivers 12:27  |  Angelique 22/08/07
  65.   Fake Indrajaya # 56 12:30  |  indrajaya 22/08/07
  66.   Delivering fuel and other supplies to Gaza 13:17  |  ChanahS 22/08/07
  67.   Angelique #64 13:26  |  Guido 22/08/07
  68.   #59 - you can`t act sensibly if you`re half insane 14:45  |  redmike 22/08/07
  69.   Shiny, you are absolutely right 15:21  |  Bill 22/08/07
  70.   # 64 angelique 15:23  |  Axel 22/08/07
  71.   Cut off all supplies: FUEL, ELECTRICIT