Israel claims more living space in the east

[Simon_Jester]

Since the Palestinian areas are full of dirt-poor refugees who got shoveled onto that land after being displaced from the rest of Israel, and since they've only had even a vague kind of self-government that could "propose building its own power station" for the past few years... I don't see what you're getting at.

Lock someone out of a productive economy and of course they're dependent on you for electricity.

[Broken]

Didn't we have a thread not too long ago about solar panel installations in the West Bank that NGO's set up that Israel was threatening to bulldoze, or I am thinking of something completely different. Not that changes the fact that the Palestinians don't even begin to have an economic base to wean them off of Israeli electricity and imports.

[eyl]

Since the Palestinian areas are full of dirt-poor refugees who got shoveled onto that land after being displaced from the rest of Israel, and since they've only had even a vague kind of self-government that could "propose building its own power station" for the past few years... I don't see what you're getting at.

Lock someone out of a productive economy and of course they're dependent on you for electricity.

By "past few years" you mean the last two decades. My point is that if they saw the situation as that bad proposals at least would have been made much earlier.

[Simon_Jester]

What obstacles exist to getting such proposals organized and approved? What is the history of the electrical supply, if we go all the way back to the Oslo accords?

"If they wanted electricity they'd have proposed to build their own power plant dammit!" strikes me as a bad argument. I can easily imagine myself, in the position of a Palestinian Authority official, deciding that the Israelis would not allow construction of power plants (as seems to be the case) and that it would be more profitable for my people to worry about something else entirely.

[eyl]

What obstacles exist to getting such proposals organized and approved? What is the history of the electrical supply, if we go all the way back to the Oslo accords?

"If they wanted electricity they'd have proposed to build their own power plant dammit!" strikes me as a bad argument. I can easily imagine myself, in the position of a Palestinian Authority official, deciding that the Israelis would not allow construction of power plants (as seems to be the case) and that it would be more profitable for my people to worry about something else entirely.

Can't say regarding the history, but I'll note that they did build a power station in Gaza in 2002 (granted, Israel wound up attacking it in 2006 and it's been plagued with diesel supply problems since, in some cases caused by Israel, in some by Egypt and in some by internal Palestinian disputes, but you'd think they'd suggest a power plant in the West Bank before that).

[Lord Zentei]

What I'm saying is that AFAIK the CMZ (which I can't quite make out from your map, I'm going by what I remember) is itself narrower than you seems to assume (and specifically in the area adjacent to the Dead Sea, there are no Palestinian villages AFAIR).

I can only go by what I see on that map. The CMZ is the fuzzy area on the map, it's not the entire blank area between the Dead Sea and the built-up areas. However, it connects to the settlement municipal area around Maale Adumim on the one hand and the southern border of the West Bank on the other, so there's no crossing from Jericho to Hebron other than going through East Jerusalem (which is surrounded by a Barrier) or E1 if you don't want to go through an Israeli settlement.

I can't say much about the prospect of it being killed in committee, so no comment on that point.

[Ace Pace]

I can't say much about the prospect of it being killed in committee, so no comment on that point.

Just to add something to this point. Bibi and the Israeli government of the last 4 years or so have a habit of announcing things such as these (multiple times on settlement construction) and having nothing happen out in the field because of the government intentionally stopping in in any of the various committees on the subject.

The end result is that some right wing voters are happy, the settlers aren't happy (because they know the facts) and the international community is rightly pissed off.

That's my read of the situation.

[Irbis]

Didn't we have a thread not too long ago about solar panel installations in the West Bank that NGO's set up that Israel was threatening to bulldoze, or I am thinking of something completely different. Not that changes the fact that the Palestinians don't even begin to have an economic base to wean them off of Israeli electricity and imports.

Not only solar panels, water tanks and pipes built by several EU NGOs. If there is anything worth bombing as a reprisal, rest assured, bombing was at least attempted or discussed.

[Thanas]

Why should the Paleastinians attempt to build power plants when it is clear Israel will always destroy such large infrastructure as soon as they want to?