PA blames Israel for coronavirus cases in West Bank
“[Israel] is striving to spread the Coronavirus via the invasion of soldiers who are likely to be sick."
By DONNA RACHEL EDMUNDSSenior Fatah official Mohammed Shtayyeh gestures during a Palestinian leadership meeting in Ramallah, in the West Bank February 20, 2019(photo credit: REUTERS/MOHAMAD TOROKMAN)
The Palestinian Authority has accused Israel of deliberately spreading the coronavirus in the Palestinian territories as the number of active cases has begun to climb again.Over recent weeks, prominent Palestinian politicians have laid the blame for coronavirus within the Palestinian population squarely at Israel's feet, blaming soldiers entering Palestinian homes and manning checkpoints - even while admitting that large gatherings may also have had an effect.On July 17, the official PA daily newspaper al-Hayat al-Jadida reported Qadura Fares, Chairman of the PA-funded Prisoners’ Club as saying “[Israel] is striving to spread the Coronavirus via the invasion of soldiers who are likely to be sick into Palestinian homes and mixing with the civilians and prisoners,” according to a translation by Palestinian Media Watch (PMW)His comment followed an earlier report in al-Hayat al-Jadida that Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Muhammad Shtayyeh had blamed Israeli soldiers at border crossings for coronavirus in the West Bank."The main reason for the severe trend of increase of the Coronavirus… is the fact that the Palestinian [PA] Security Forces are being prevented [by Israel] from fulfilling their role and supervising the movement at these crossings… The fact that we do not control the crossings and borders – in addition to the occupation’s measures – is the main reason for the increase in the number of those infected with the Coronavirus,” Shtayyeh was reported to have said, according to PMW.In fact, the PA has never supervised the 1949 Armistice lines.However, he went on to add: "82% of the [Palestinian] Coronavirus infections is contact between the civilians – and specifically at weddings and mourners’ tents, and that 18% are laborers.”Statistics by the Israeli Coordinator for Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) show that in June 2020 there were over a million crossings by Palestinians into Israel, the majority of whom were crossing for work and medical reasons.In May, the PA refused aid donated by the United Arab Emirates, amounting to some 16 tons of medical supplies, personal protective equipment and 10 ventilators among other items, because the plane delivering the cargo flew into Ben Gurion airport instead of landing directly in Palestinian territory. Some PA officials and political activists accused the UAE of “promoting normalization” with Israel by allowing the plane to land at Ben-Gurion Airport, according to Palestinian sources."Since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, the PA has inverted reality. The PA has repeatedly blamed Israel for the spread of the Coronavirus, never telling its people that Israel has given hundreds of tons of equipment as well as ongoing medical training to the PA to prevent the spread of the virus," Maurice Hirsch, director of legal strategies for PMW wrote in a report published on the organisation's website."One thing is clear: For the PA, the coronavirus crisis is just another excuse to promote hatred of Israel, even to the detriment of the international fight against the virus," he added.
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