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On March 11th, the environmental activism community will celebrate “Solar Appreciation Day” to encourage the adoption of solar energy solutions in our daily life as a more sustainable way of living.

Palestine, with its abundance of sunshine (a daily average of 8 hours), has a high potential for utilising solar energy. However, the Israeli occupation systematically hinders this potential, leaving Palestinians in energy poverty and undermining the opportunity for Palestine’s energy independence.

At the same time, the Israeli regime attempts to promote itself as at the forefront of fighting climate change and environmental initiatives in the region, a political strategy known as “greenwashing” used to distract from its violations against the Palestinian people.

In reality, “Solar Appreciation Day” and similar environmental and sustainable initiatives often fail to take into account the reality for colonised and oppressed peoples who face acute energy poverty and dependency.

"Since inception, the Israeli regime has deliberately forced Palestinians in the occupied territories to be energy dependent"

Since inception, the Israeli regime has deliberately forced Palestinians in the occupied territories to be energy dependent. This was further entrenched by the 1994 Paris Economic Protocol, which spelled out the economic relations between the Israeli regime and the Palestinians following the Oslo Accords.

It made sure that most of the Palestinian energy imports came from the Israeli regime. The protocols ensured not only Palestinian dependence but also total Israeli control over the levers of the Palestinian economy.

In addition to this control, the Israeli regime has been systematically attacking energy sources across the Palestinian territories, including the destruction of Gaza’s one and only diesel-based power plant and the confiscation of solar panels and systems in Area C of the West Bank.

For Palestinians in Area C, who are deprived of connection to electricity grids and networks, solar energy is the obvious short term solution to access heated water, proper lighting, and pursuing an education.

Yet the Israeli regime systemically prevents Palestinians in Area C from harnessing the immense solar energy potential either by denying construction permits or destroying existing systems.

Meanwhile the Israeli regime is profiting massively, reported $450 million in 2016, from establishing solar fields in illegal Israeli settlements on stolen Palestinian land in both the West Bank and the Naqab desert.

Energy poverty affects nearly every single aspect of Palestinian life. In Gaza, the limit of only a few hours of electricity a day hinders the work of most public sector institutions ranging from hospitals to schools.

For example, electricity shortages over the past two decades have hindered waste management and the treatment of sewage water, resulting in a significant daily amount of partially treated water being dumped into the Mediterranean Sea, threatening marine life and Gaza’s vital fishing industry.��

Healthcare is also severely impacted by power shortages. Indeed, hospitals in Gaza are often forced to postpone non-emergency surgeries, with waiting times reaching 16 months in 2021 compared to three months in 2005.

Educational institutions also suffer from the electricity crisis; this was particularly acute during the Covid-19 pandemic when frequent power outages meant that teachers could not use classroom technologies and many students were forced to study by candlelight.

Yet despite the destruction of energy sources, the silver lining of the enforced energy poverty means that Palestinians, particularly in Gaza, continue to explore solar photovoltaic (PV) systems as an alternative source to produce electricity.

Still, solar PV systems are expensive and in Gaza 1.3 of the nearly 2 million are living below the poverty line. This means that many are totally dependent on international humanitarian support.

"This framing not only depoliticises the energy issue into a humanitarian and development concern rather than a consequence of a brutal military occupation, but also justifies the use of these short-term 'painkillers' that fail to address the underlying causes of the energy poverty facing Palestinians"

Yet even when humanitarian aid provides solar energy solutions to households, it usually only provides for systems of a small capacity which are used mainly for lighting.

The lack of proper access to energy has knock-off effects for women’s empowerment, because it increases the time Palestinian women spend doing unpaid care and domestic work and hinders their home-based business operations, all of which affect their social, political and community participation.

Whilst there is increasing donor support for solar energy adoption in Palestine through grants or loans to both businesses and households, these initiatives more often than not fail to explicitly address the crucial role of the Israeli regime in the energy crisis facing Palestinians.

Within this framing, international donor interventions can only ever be short-term solutions. This framing not only depoliticises the energy issue into a humanitarian and development concern rather than a consequence of a brutal military occupation, but also justifies the use of these short-term “painkillers” that fail to address the underlying causes of the energy poverty facing Palestinians.

It is with this complicity of the international community that the Israeli regime has managed to limit access to, increase the cost of and shift the responsibility of accessing energy to the Palestinian households, while profiting from exploiting Palestinian land and natural resources.

As people around the world are appreciating solar energy this month, Palestinians are struggling to secure their basic access to energy whilst simultaneously being scrutinised for not finding solutions. Solar Appreciation Day should be reframed around a discourse that places oppressed, colonised and exploited people at the centre.����

Asmaa AbuMezied is a gender and economic justice expert addressing issues of gender, economic development, and climate change in Palestine. With over 10 years of experience, her focus is on gendered economic policies, women's rights in economic sectors, unpaid care and domestic work campaigning, inclusive markets, and feminist economics in fragile and conflict areas. She is Al Shabaka Gaza Visiting Fellow and her work is published in different spaces such as Oxfam policy and practice, Development and Gender Journal, Al Shabaka, and the World Economic Forum. She contributed to “Light in Gaza: Writing born of fire” book launched in 2022.

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