JENIN, West Bank, July 10 (Xinhua) -- Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah and Israeli Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz launched Monday the first power plant in the West Bank that transforms high to medium voltage, in Jenin, north of the West Bank.
The official ceremony, attended by senior Palestinian and Israeli officials, included signing a commercial agreement between Israeli Electric Corporation and the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) to increase power supply for the coming year through operating a new substation in the north of West Bank.
According to the agreement, the PNA will pay around 47 million U.S. dollars to the Israeli Electric Corporation annually, in order to increase the supply of the new power plant by 60 Megawatts (MW) in full operation.
Hamdallah hoped that this agreement would pave the way "for a comprehensive agreement to transfer the entire electricity sector to the Palestinian side."
He also called on Israel to "cooperate in order to build electricity lines and generation plants in order to continue development of natural resources in the area and benefit from its returns."
The Palestinian energy authority said that there are three other plants in the West Bank under construction and pending signing agreements with Israel to empower Palestine with control over the electricity supply in the West Bank.
Steinitz said that the agreement is bound by payment mechanism, and that "the project is a continuation of civil coordination with the Palestinian authorities, understanding that this is in the interest of Israel."
Palestinians in the West Bank suffer from a deficit in electric supply, especially during summer months, due to the fact that they cannot make use of natural resources in areas under full Israeli control, which comprise 62 percent of the West Bank, according to the Oslo Accords signed between Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and Israel in 1993.
In September 2016, the PNA minister of finance and Israeli Coordinator of Government Activities in the Palestinian Territories, signed an agreement to regulate payment of Palestinian debts to the Israeli electricity company, which allowed the signing of this agreement.
