Despite being been stuck living between COVID-19 and the Israeli occupation, Palestinians have come up with unique and creative solutions to the problems that they’ve faced because of the coronavirus. In this final episode of our COVID-19 series in Palestine, we’re showcasing Palestinians who responded to the coronavirus pandemic using innovation and creativity as a way to help their communities adapt to the crisis around them.
Half a year, and nearly 54,000 cases of the virus later, the devastating effects that the coronavirus pandemic has had on the Palestinian economy and society are just now becoming clearer.
Israeli authorities have announced a temporary freeze on home demolitions in occupied East Jerusalem, following legal pressure amidst a rise in the demolition of Palestinian homes during the COVID-19 pandemic.
For a second time since the pandemic began, the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and Gaza opened in both directions for three days this week, allowing stranded Palestinians to return to their homes.
While the rate of COVID-19 infections in Israel has skyrocketed in the last week, Palestinian health officials are reporting more promising numbers, with the Ministry of Health reporting an 80% recovery rate among COVID-19 patients in Gaza, the occupied West Bank, and East Jerusalem.
Like the rest of the world, Palestine has been hit hard with the coronavirus. The city of Bethlehem in particular has perhaps been impacted the most by the pandemic. At any given time of year the streets of Bethlehem’s Old City are filled with tourists from all over the world, but now shops have been closed and the streets are empty. According to local experts, short-term losses as a result of COVID-19 have reached up to 500 million dollars in Bethlehem alone, and people here are wondering if life will ever return back to normal.
The wave of protests against Benjamin Netanyahu that sprouted in the spring continue throughout this latest lockdown. The most recent protest was last night with 2,000 demonstrators.
The Palestinian Minister of Health Mai al-Kalia told the Voice of Palestine radio on Tuesday that Israel “obstructed” the entry of 100,000 COVID-19 testing swabs that were destined for the West Bank. As a result, the Ministry will only have enough swabs to last them for three days, after which time the West Bank would run out.
Palestinians in Gaza City on September 17, 2020. (Photo: Ashraf Amra/APA Images) Latest: 179,071 tested…
As part of COVID-19 series in Palestine, Yumna Patel traveled to the Jordan Valley to see what life is like for Palestinians there as they fight two battles: one against the coronavirus, and one against annexation. “In this area, the occupation is even worse for us than the coronavirus pandemic. The occupation has taken advantage of the coronavirus pandemic to take over more land in the Jordan Valley,” Motaz Bisharat, a Palestinian activist based in the northern Jordan Valley tells Mondoweiss.