Gaza Invasion Armed and Powered By The U.S.

It's well known that the U.S. supplies the Israelis with much of their military hardware. Over the past few decades, the U.S. has provided about $53 billion in military aid to Israel.

What's not well known is that since 2004, U.S. taxpayers have paid to supply $1.1 billion of refined oil products to the Israeli military. Fuel used by Israeli fighter jets, helicopters and tanks to battle Hamas. What's more, Israel does not need the U.S. handout. Its own recently privatized refineries, located at Haifa and Ashdod, could supply all of the fuel needed by the Israeli military.

Comparatively, according to the CIA Fact Book, the Gaza Strip ranks dead last -- 214th out of 214 countries and territories listed -- in the amount of electricity consumed. The average Gazan used about 654 kilowatt-hours of electricity. By contrast, the residents of Israel consume about 6,295 kilowatt-hours of electric power per person per year, nearly 10 times as much as the average Gazan.

There's no question that the endemic poverty in the West Bank and particularly in Gaza, is due, largely, to a continuing lack of energy resources. And the Israelis have frequently cut off the flow of fuel and electricity, which has exacerbated the Palestinians' energy poverty.

[Salon]