Os Cangaceiros
22nd November 2011, 02:47
IMNEIZIL, West Bank: A freezing wind blows across the south Hebron hills and the people of the tiny village of Imneizil are steeling themselves for winter and the prospect they may have to face it without electricity.
Situated between two Israeli settlements - Susiya and Beit Yattir - Imneizil, like so many Palestinian towns, is off the grid, with no electricity, water or sewerage due to severe restrictions on Palestinian development.
Two years ago, the Energy Research Centre at Al-Najah University in Nablus and SEBA, a Spanish non-government organisation, installed solar panels in the village to replace its petrol generators. The venture received €292,000 ($394,000) in funding from the Spanish government.
The panels, which provide power for the 390 residents, their school and a small medical clinic, are now under a demolition order by the Israeli authorities. ''We are suspended between heaven and earth; the solar panels were a glimmer of hope for us and now they are trying to destroy them,'' the village head, Ali Mohammad Ali Hreizat, said.
More than a glimmer of hope, the solar panels and the electricity they generate attracted family members back to the village and allowed the school to run computers and a printer, the clinic to store medicines safely and provide light for night study.
shitty.
http://www.smh.com.au/world/between-heaven-and-earth--and-israeli-law-20111120-1npel.html
Situated between two Israeli settlements - Susiya and Beit Yattir - Imneizil, like so many Palestinian towns, is off the grid, with no electricity, water or sewerage due to severe restrictions on Palestinian development.
Two years ago, the Energy Research Centre at Al-Najah University in Nablus and SEBA, a Spanish non-government organisation, installed solar panels in the village to replace its petrol generators. The venture received €292,000 ($394,000) in funding from the Spanish government.
The panels, which provide power for the 390 residents, their school and a small medical clinic, are now under a demolition order by the Israeli authorities. ''We are suspended between heaven and earth; the solar panels were a glimmer of hope for us and now they are trying to destroy them,'' the village head, Ali Mohammad Ali Hreizat, said.
More than a glimmer of hope, the solar panels and the electricity they generate attracted family members back to the village and allowed the school to run computers and a printer, the clinic to store medicines safely and provide light for night study.
shitty.
http://www.smh.com.au/world/between-heaven-and-earth--and-israeli-law-20111120-1npel.html