The Viral Emergency in Palestine
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- Published on Friday, 24 April 2020 09:26
- Written by editor
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A Socialist Project e-bulletin ... No. 2071 ... April 24, 2020
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The Viral Emergency in Palestine
S. C. Molavi and Eyal Weizman
Over a dozen states, including Hungary, Ethiopia, Japan, Canada, and Botswana, have recently declared a "state of emergency" giving governments sweeping powers to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. Israel did not have to do so, having incorporated emergency regulations into domestic law upon its establishment in 1948. Israel’s radical response to the global pandemic were thus built upon the powers and infrastructure designed for settler-colonial expansion and military occupation.
These measures covered a full lockdown with an intercity travel ban enacted this Passover, including closure of the entire ultra-Orthodox city of Bnei-Brak near Tel Aviv that was experiencing one of the highest rates of infections; covert operations by the Mossad spy agency to obtain medical equipment; and attempts to deploy "digital techniques used in the fight against terror" -- designed to dominate and regularly violate the privacy of millions of Palestinians -- to the task of monitoring carriers of the virus.
As a sovereign power, Israel has a "legal duty" and ultimate overall... responsibility for the healthcare of around seven million Palestinians, whether they are citizens or subjects living under occupation in Gaza, Jerusalem or the West Bank. It has one of the most advanced health care systems in the world, but its drastic measures are prioritizing the security Israeli-Jewish citizens. A petition by the legal rights group, Adalah to the Israeli High Court showed that real-time coronavirus updates were not made available in Arabic for its Palestinian citizens. Not coincidentally, several Palestinian localities such as Umm el-Fahm, the coastal town of Jisr Al-Zarqa and Daburiyya near Nazareth -- now under virtual siege -- in the north were among the most infected with testing for the virus among Arab citizens at only around 10% of the total testing done by the state, despite forming one-fifth of the total population.