Countless times I drove the winding road, one of the most beautiful in Israel, between Neve Tsuf and Ofarim in West Benjamin.
This time the trip is different.
Instead of enjoying the dizzying mountain view, I take a good look at the electricity poles.
It is easy to recognize the sign on them that I had never noticed before: the wall of Jerusalem with a round mosque dome and the white lightning mark, next to the inscription in Arabic and English JDECO.
Naama Stern
There is no doubt that these electricity poles, placed along the road in Area C, belong to the East Jerusalem Electric Company, known for short as Hami. The discovery blows a fuse. These are strictly kosher poles that have received the approval of the Civil Administration, they provide electricity to Palestinian villages, and soon they will Electricity from the enormous solar farm that the Palestinian Authority established between Neve Tsuf and Ofarim. So why does this cause me frustration? Because instead of the Civil Administration applying sanctions against Hami, which supplies electricity to illegal buildings in Area C, Hami is hacked and receives permits to promote huge projects Even the debt of Hami, which is growing and has already reached one billion shekels to the Israel Electric Company, does not prevent the Civil Administration from authorizing Hami to upgrade the electricity line between Israel and Jordan, and to purchase more electricity from Jordan.
An aerial photo of Regavim from 2008 proves that all 50 buildings that fill the landscape in front of us were not there before.
The buildings are connected to Hami's electricity, and with its help the Authority is occupying more and more C areas
So who is Hami? Hami has a long and winding history.
In the past it was a Jordanian company, but today it is an Israeli company legally registered and licensed by the Electricity Authority in the Ministry of Energy to supply electricity in East Jerusalem and Yosh, in the districts of Jericho, Bethlehem and Ramallah. In the past Hami produced electricity at a power station in Shuafat, but for 30 years it has not been a producer Rather, it only purchases electricity from HAI (the Israel Electric Company) and Jordan, and flows it to the areas under its responsibility. The company's board of directors currently consists of representatives of the relevant municipalities: Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Beit Jala, Beit Sahour, Ramallah, Al-Bira and Jericho.
Since 1967, Hami has been a center of Palestinian political power and a symbol of Palestinian independence. As early as 1981, PLO supporters had an absolute majority on its board of directors.
Today it can be said that the PA is actually used as an aid tool by the PA in its pursuit of establishing a Palestinian state. On the one hand, it helps the PA through legal means, with the approval and encouragement of the Civil Administration, to move towards energy independence and break away from dependence on Israel. On the other hand, it helps the Palestinian Authority by supplying electricity for the construction of legal in Area C as part of a European-sponsored Palestinian plan to establish a state unilaterally with the help of establishing facts on the ground. All this wonderful thing is happening away from the public eye, without an in-depth public debate on the meaning of these moves, and above all without a clear, consistent and forward-looking government policy.
choke ring
From Benjamin, they dream to the northern gate of Euphrates, a city and mother in Israel.
From the heights of Givat al-Dagan you can look out to Fati al-Khader, a town south of Bethlehem.
Dozens of illegal stone buildings, some of them three stories high, slide from area A to area C on state land.
In the distance, between the buildings and the vines, stands out an orange crane that was working on pouring another illegal structure.
All in broad daylight, undisturbed.
"A road was planned to be blocked here, but due to the massive construction along the road's route, the planned road will no longer be paved. What we see here is a stranglehold on the Euphrates, to prevent its further development," says Menesh Shmueli, field coordinator of the Regavim movement.
An aerial photograph from 2008 proves that all 50 illegal buildings that fill the landscape in front of us are all new buildings that were not there before.
All the buildings are connected to the electricity supplied by Hami. This is electricity produced by the Israel Electricity Company, "purchased" by Hami (which, as mentioned, has a debt of one billion shekels), and with its help the Palestinian Authority occupies more and more areas C.
The Regavim movement filed a petition requesting to destroy the electricity infrastructure on the grounds that it is illegal.
The state replied that the electricity infrastructure would be destroyed in accordance with security considerations, and the petition was deleted.
What are those security considerations?
Is this just an excuse for lack of hand, or real security considerations?
Various sources in the field explain that the Civil Administration is afraid of cutting off entire neighborhoods from electricity, because this could cause the electricity to be cut off even in legal buildings, and also because such a step could provoke petitions from left-wing organizations against the administrator, who is already flooded with petitions of this type.
On top of all this, the manager is in a dire personnel crunch.
Only 15 inspectors are responsible for a huge area.
The previous government pledged to increase the manpower in the Civil Administration by another 46 standards, but the standards have not yet been approved and staffed, due to bureaucratic procedures.
In addition to the manpower shortage in the manager himself, the demolition of an illegal Palestinian structure often involves the absorption of live fire, and therefore requires the accompaniment of many military forces.
The forces in the field are overloaded with routine security tasks, and enforcement tasks have to be postponed.
In practice, in the North Efrat area, the Civil Administration destroyed three buildings at the bottom of the wadi, buildings that encroached on a planned nature reserve on the outskirts of Shlomo Pools.
All the other illegal houses stand their ground and continue to receive electricity.
The connection to the infrastructure undoubtedly encourages more illegal construction, like the one that is happening right in front of our eyes.
"Connected to the neighbor's house"
From North Efrat we turn southeast to the desert.
To the south of Takua, to the north of Amos Amos, we stop at Kishtan and Al-Mania, two villages surrounded by extensive illegal construction.
Some of the houses are relatively modest, but near Al-Mania square are luxurious three-story villas.
The core of the two villages was defined in the Oslo Accords as Area A under the full control of the Palestinian Authority, but dozens of illegal structures were actually erected in Area C under Israeli control.
Aerial photographs show that there are unbuilt areas in area A, on which the village could have developed, but if it is possible to build on area C without any hindrance, then why not?
A look up at the blue sky and the electricity poles shows that here, too, the electricity supplier is HMI, as the signs on them prove. In El-Mania, a European Union sign reports an electricity project using solar cells, but for some reason most of the cells were smashed by the village brats. The connection Between the standard columns of Hami and the illegal structures including a tangle of wires and transformers.
We approach Mustafa, a resident of the village who lives in the illegal area.
From here, what's up?
"God willing," answers Mustafa in Hebrew.
The conversation flows and he says that he has ten children from two women.
We ask if they lack electricity in the village, and Mustafa says that there is no electricity.
Where does the electricity come from?
"We receive from the company in East Jerusalem. We pay them every month. First we deposit the money, then we get electricity. When the money we paid runs out, the company cuts off the electricity. There are also those who are not connected to the company but to the neighbor's house, and then they pay the neighbor."
Mustafa says that the civil administration rarely intervenes in what is happening in the village.
"This house was a really big house on the road itself, so they destroyed it, but usually we don't cause problems here. We get along with the manager."
The HMI logo adorns the pages throughout Yosh, photo: Naama Stern
With such an organization it is possible to understand why the illegal construction in areas C has become an uncontrollable flood.
According to recent data collected by Regev, through accurate mapping and comparison of aerial photographs over the years, the number of illegal Palestinian buildings in Area C currently stands at 81,317.
In contrast, the amount of illegal Israeli buildings in areas C is 4,382.
In the last year alone, after a period of governmental instability, 5,535 illegal Palestinian buildings were built in Area C - an 80% increase compared to the previous year.
Whereas in the Jewish sector, 406 new illegal buildings were built in settlements or outposts, an increase of only 10%.
All this while in Area C live about 350 thousand Palestinians, compared to 500 thousand Jews.
All these buildings are connected to electricity.
Are the Palestinians suffering from overcrowding or a lack of space?
Those who walk around the spaces and see the nature of the construction are easily impressed that it is not.
The numbers also prove this.
The level of density of the Palestinians in Yosh in the area built for residential purposes is 5.6 persons per dunam, while the level of density in "Little Israel" is 10.0 persons per dunam. To this must be added the fact that 70% of areas A and B are unused, so that in most places, the illegal construction Legality in areas C does not stem from natural growth, but from a clear trend of the Palestinian Authority to determine facts in the area, towards the establishment of a state unilaterally.
In the field you can recognize the pointing hand.
The Palestinian Authority, with European funding and support, breaks dirt roads, places electricity poles, and only then do the illegal structures emerge.
Exceptions are the cities of Qalqilya and Tulkarm, where the massive flow of illegal construction into area C results from the exhaustion of construction in area A. The Civil Administration raised their hands against the high-rises that were erected illegally in these cities, and everyone understands that sooner or later these buildings will be whitewashed.
The forces are concentrated in the Civil Administration in more strategic places, such as near the traffic routes, in the outskirts of Jerusalem, in nature reserves and fire areas, and also in the demolition of illegal buildings in the outposts.
The Directorate of Coordination and Liaison, which is responsible for the Civil Administration and sits near Kirya in Tel Aviv, often hosts European representatives.
The picture they are trying to present to them is one of equality in enforcement when it comes to the demolition of illegal buildings.
The extreme lack of symmetry between the scope of the Palestinian illegal construction compared to the Israeli one is not really emphasized there.
Perhaps because it is convenient for them to close their eyes and see the illegal Palestinian construction as a natural increase and not a deliberate trend.
And perhaps when the Europeans are held to account - it is not really pleasant to clash with those factors, the money tray from Brussels, who support the PA's takeover of Area C with statements and with a lot of money.
Between the years 2016-2018, the European Union granted "humanitarian aid" to the Palestinians living in Area C in the amount of 33 million euros.
Another 2.5 million euros were set aside to promote planning for the bleaching of 113 illegal Palestinian outposts in Area C. In addition, more than 30 million euros were invested in infrastructure and agricultural development, and 20 million were donated to legal warfare to prevent law enforcement, with the help of legal aid to those receiving demolition orders.
Instead of the State of Israel demanding that the European Union stop funding the PA's illegal takeover of Area C, it hosts their representatives in the offices of the Headquarters for the Coordination of Government Operations in the Territories (Matfash). About a year ago, a delegation of the Matfash left, together with the Minister of Regional Development Isavi Frigg ', to the conference of donor countries in Oslo, with the aim of increasing aid to the Palestinians.
Where's the money?
And from the illegal construction back to the issue of electricity in the Palestinian Authority.
According to the Oslo Accords, the PA was supposed to develop energy independence.
Israel agreed to supply it with electricity temporarily.
But the temporary has become permanent, and the Authority is almost completely dependent on Hami. Alongside Hami, "Patel" - the PA's official electricity company - was established, along with three other small Palestinian private companies that are responsible on the ground for supplying and collecting the payment.
Over the years, these companies have accumulated huge debts to Hai Hai.
There is no one to talk to.
Hami headquarters in East Jerusalem, photo: Naama Stern
The debts were created as a result of non-payment of electricity bills on public buildings, from the lack of collection, electricity theft and a long-standing culture that developed in the refugee camps, according to which even well-to-do families, the fourth generation of "escapees", do not pay for electricity.
After many disconnections and a lengthy legal battle, the Palestinian Authority and the Israeli Electric Company reached an agreement on offsetting the debt from the taxes that Israel collects for the PA's goods.
Today, the authority has no direct debt to the Chai, since every month the TAPSH offsets NIS 75 million from the authority's liquidation funds.
38 million of the offset is for the electricity consumption in Gaza, and the rest - for the electricity in Yosh. What is not included in the offset agreement is the electricity purchased by Hami from the Israeli Electric Company, which caused the accumulation of a debt of up to a billion shekels, which is essentially an indirect debt of the Palestinian Authority to the company Israeli electricity.
To this day, Hami has refrained, for political reasons, from filing a lawsuit against the Authority as Chai did.
Hami appealed to the Ministry of Energy and asked to include its debt in the offset,
On the way to disconnection
On October 6 of this year, the Israel Electric Company issued a letter addressed to all the relevant parties in Israel and the Palestinian Authority, in which it announced that starting November 21, next Monday, there will be an initiated power cut in 36 different areas of the Palestinian Authority, for six consecutive hours, on ten different days throughout the winter.
The Israel Defense Forces realized that this was an event with many consequences that could also provoke a widespread protest in the field, and now Israel is pressuring the PA to reach an offset agreement or payment of the debt to the Israel Defense Forces.
At the same time, since the Oslo agreement, several attempts have been made in the field to increase the amount of electricity that flows to the Palestinian Authority, since the supply capacity of HAI cannot keep up with the increasing consumption in the Palestinian Authority. In 2016, the Europeans invested in the construction of four substations - in Jenin, Nablus, Etram and Tarkamiya - whose goal is to increase the amount of electricity. The stations that are connected to Hai Hai manage to increase the electricity significantly, but the internal transmission network, which suffers from malfunctions and obsolescence, does not manage to flow the full potential.
At the same time, several huge solar farms were built with European funding, for example near Jericho and between Neve Tsuf and Ofarim, and there is an attempt to build a power plant in Jenin.
The one who won the tender for the electricity from the solar farms is the same HMI, which violates the law and owes a billion shekels. In the same way, it is HMI that has now received a license to upgrade the electricity line between Jordan and Israel, and to increase the amount of electricity purchased from Jordan to 80 mega- Watt.
These days, Hami workers are placing electricity poles that rise from the Jordan Valley towards Ramallah, through a large area between the settlements of Kochav Hashar and Machmesh, which the Palestinians have marked as an area that they intend to take over through illegal construction. The power line that will help this takeover move from the planning stage to reality , miracle and miracle, with the approval of the State of Israel. In a ceremony held in Jordan in honor of the project, Palestinian Prime Minister Muhammad Ashteyeh said that the purpose of the project is to enable the Palestinian Authority to free itself from energy dependence on Israel and "Israeli blackmail", in preparation for the establishment of an independent Palestinian state. The ceremony was also attended by Hisham al- Omri, CEO of Hami.
A wanted man is al-Omari.
We wanted to meet him face to face.
We approached the Hami offices on Saladin Street in Jerusalem. Between the colorful shops and the street bustling with kafis and jalabiyas, there is the large and impressive building of Hami.
The security guard at the entrance did not allow us to enter.
"You have no one to talk to now," he explained to us, "the entire management is now in Ramallah."
In the end, we got al-Omari's cell phone number, we called, we sent a message, but we didn't get an answer.
We directed the questions to Hami to the lawyer who represents them, Anat Klein. We did not receive an answer on this channel either.
"The most difficult problem," says a senior official in the field of electricity, "is the lack of a clear policy. For years there have been no regular discussions or meetings of the relevant professionals and parties on the issue of electricity in the Palestinian Authority. There is no organized plan for the future, no policy, only the reality on the ground of putting out fires ".
***
We contacted the Ministry of Energy, the Ministry of Defense and the Civil Administration, to understand if there is a policy regarding the connection of illegal buildings to electricity, and why sanctions are not applied against HMI.
The response of Matafash and the Civil Administration: "In the past year, Civil Administration officials carried out six enforcement actions against electricity infrastructures that were erected and deployed illegally throughout Judea and Samaria.
Regarding the enforcement of illegal construction in areas C - from the beginning of 2022 until today, nearly 1,300 buildings, infrastructures, agricultural encroachments on state lands, illegal works, and more have been enforced and destroyed."
The Civil Administration refused to provide accurate data on the demolition of illegal buildings, and the segmentation of enforcement by years and sectors (Israeli versus Palestinian).
However, a source we spoke with estimated that 90% of the demolition activity was carried out in front of Palestinian buildings.
The Electric Company's response: "HMI's debt to the Electric Company currently stands at about one billion shekels."
In order to collect the debt, we are forced to make disconnections in accordance with the law, with advance notice.
We turned to the Ministries of Finance and Energy and the Civil Administration to help us collect the debt.
The Electric Company believes that the monthly offset with the Authority in favor of HMI should be increased by approximately NIS 20 to 25 million per month."
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