The Supreme Court in Israel has ruled that the government can
continue its cutbacks of fuel supplies to the Gaza Strip, but must
delay electricity cuts.
Israeli and Palestinian human rights groups had challenged the move, calling it an illegal collective punishment.
The Israeli government argues the cutbacks are used as economic
sanctions in retaliation for rocket attacks by Palestinian militants in
Gaza.
The strip has been under the control of the Islamist movement Hamas since June.
“We are convinced that, for now, there is no need to issue a stay,
especially as the (government) respondents undertook from the outset to
ensure that the (fuel) reductions do not cause humanitarian harm,” the
Israeli Supreme Court wrote in its ruling.
Shortages
But the court said the state had to delay electricity cuts it had
intended to implement from Sunday, because it did not offer enough
details on the areas affected by the cuts.
“We welcome the delay in electricity cuts and expect that at the end of
the day the court will prevent the military from cutting electricity to
Gaza, but we are concerned about the court’s failure to intervene in
the fuel cuts,” Sari Bashi of Gisha, one of the groups which launched
the appeal, told the Associated Press news agency.
Senior Hamas official Ismail Haniya said the court ruling was “dangerous” and aimed at “increasing the siege on Gaza”.
Petroleum companies in Gaza announced they had stopped accepting fuel shipments in protest against Israeli cuts.
Mahmoud al-Shawa, head of the Gaza petroleum companies consortium, told
AP more than 100 of the 150 petrol stations in the strip had already
closed because of shortages.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/middle_east/7121313.stm
Published: 2007/11/30 16:50:10 GMT
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