Powerless in Gaza

Newswise — In Gaza, cutting off electricity is more than a figure of speech; when the power company wants to turn off someone's electricity for nonpayment, they literally go out and cut the line. But delinquent payments are the least of the problems Gaza faces. Today, Gaza is blockaded by Israel and cut off from Egypt; its local government is not even recognized by the Palestinian National Authority. In the middle of this multilayered conflict are 1.5 million civilians living in a territory controlled by Hamas, a militant Islamic organization that much of the world, including the United States and the European Union, has labeled a terrorist organization. So how does a territory controlled by a U.S.-designated terrorist group manage its electrical grid? National-security reporter Sharon Weinberger investigates.