Will Turkey succeed in resolving Gaza’s power crisis?
Turkey is working to resolve the Gaza Strip's energy crisis as part of an economic projects package included in Turkey's reconciliation deal with Israel.
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — After failing to persuade Israel to lift its siege on the Gaza Strip, Turkey is taking steps to help Gaza resolve its 10-year-old electricity crisis.
In exchange for normalizing relations with Israel in June, Turkey pledged to provide an economic projects package to Palestinians that includes establishing a power plant in Gaza. Toward that end, a delegation of eight Turkish energy experts, accompanied by Turkey's ambassador to the Palestinian Authority (PA), Mustafa Sarnic, arrived July 12 in Gaza to be briefed on the electricity crisis by the Palestinian Energy and Natural Resources Authority (PENRA) and to study proposed solutions.
The delegation had met with different PA officials and others the day before in Israel to address the crisis. Turkey's state-run Anadolu Agency revealed that the Turkish delegation suggested during the meeting, as it has before, sending an electricity vessel to Gaza's shores, but Israel has yet to respond.
Ahmet Varol, a leader in Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the AKP official in charge of Gaza affairs, told Al-Monitor, "The Turkish project to generate electricity in Gaza has begun to be implemented on the ground. Several Turkish officials and experts have arrived to the Palestinian territories to inspect the problem and study the proposed solutions to be raised to the Turkish leadership."
