A Brief Colonial History Of Ceylon(SriLanka)
Sri Lanka: One Island Two Nations
A Brief Colonial History Of Ceylon(SriLanka)
Sri Lanka: One Island Two Nations
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Thiranjala Weerasinghe sj.- One Island Two Nations
?????????????????????????????????????????????????Monday, August 7, 2017
Abbas pledges to ramp up sanctions against Gaza
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has been seeking to weaken rival Hamas by cutting payments for power supplies to Gaza
Palestinian
President Mahmoud Abbas, leader of the internationally recognised
Palestinian government based in the occupied West Bank (AFP)
Sunday 6 August 2017
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has pledged to increase sanctions on
the Gaza Strip, drawing a fresh attack from its Hamas rulers.
Abbas, the leader of the internationally recognised Palestinian
government based in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, has been seeking to
weaken Hamas by cutting payments for electricity supplied by Israel to
crowded Gaza.
On Saturday, he said he would continue with sanctions on the coastal
strip, despite UN concerns that this amounts to collective punishment of
its two million residents.
"We will continue the gradual stopping of financial allocations to the
Gaza Strip until Hamas commits to reconciliation" with the Abbas
administration, the president said.
"Since the coup, we have paid a billion and a half dollars to the Gaza
Strip," Abbas said, referring to the 2007 overthrow of his Fatah
movement by Hamas in Gaza.
"We will not allow this to continue," the WAFA official Palestinian news agency reported him as saying in Arabic.
"Either things will go as they are meant to be, or we will continue to
reduce these funds," he said, accusing Hamas of stealing some of the
funds.
The Islamist group responded late Saturday in a statement, saying:
"Attacking Hamas and threatening the people of Gaza with more sanctions
is a blow to reconciliation efforts."
It accused Abbas's Palestinian Authority of working with Israel to isolate Gaza and bring suffering to its people.
Both sides have previously committed to reconciliation, but repeated attempts have failed.
The Palestinian Authority had been paying for some electricity to be
delivered to Gaza since 2007, but in recent months has reduced the
amount of money it pays.
Gazans now receive only a couple of hours of electricity a day,
delivered from the territory's own power station and others in Israel
and Egypt.
The Palestinian Authority has also cut stipends to its former Gaza staff
forced out of office by Hamas, in a move analysts see as seeking to sow
discontent in the enclave.