Jordan Valley Villagers Demonstrate Against Blackout Caused by Israel

Jericho, MINA – Dozens of Palestinians from the village of Al-Jiftlik, north of the occupied West Bank city of Jericho in the Jordan Valley region on Friday organized a sit-in to protest the Israeli authorities’ cutting off electricity in the area for the third day in a row.

In a tent set near Road 90 near the village, the protesters raised Palestinian flags and demanded that electricity be reconnected to their village. WAFA reported on February 19.

The head of Al-Jiftlik village Council, Ahmad Abu Ghanem said that most of the village residents work in agriculture and livestock, and depend mainly on electricity for their livelihoods.

According to Ghanem, the area suffers from deliberate frequent blackouts by the Israeli authorities, which have so far caused significant financial losses to local farmers.

Over the years, Israeli occupation authorities have been trying to empty the Jordan Valley, a fertile strip of land which makes up one third of the area of the West Bank, of its indigenous Palestinian communities to make way for a de facto annexation of the area to Israel’s sovereignty.(T/R3/RE1)

Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)