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Mohammed Omer on how coronavirus is affecting Jordan and the Palestinian refugee camps there (PalestineDeepDive)
Mohammed Omer spoke to Palestine DeepDive from his home in Amman, Jordan. Mohammed is an award-winning journalist, originally from Gaza.
He was speaking as part of our first live panel on the topic of "Palestine & Covid-19".
Israel said to shut down East Jerusalem virus testing site operating under PA (The Times of Israel)
The Public Security Ministry said in a statement: “All activity by the Palestinian Authority in Israeli territory that is not coordinated and approved by authorities is prohibited under law and the police must prevent it.”
Israel considers East Jerusalem its territory, though Palestinians want it as the capital of a future state. Though its residents are Palestinians, East Jerusalem is under the control of the Israeli government, which is responsible for providing them with services.
According to the report, the clinic was using equipment supplied by the PA Health Ministry and the tests it carried out were to have been transferred to the PA for assessment.
The Arab medics battling coronavirus in Israel’s segregated society (Financial Times)
Since Mr Netanyahu first came to power in 1996 he has denigrated Arab politicians as supporters of terrorism, stripped Arabic of its status as an official language and last year passed a law that gave Jews alone the right to self-determination in the state of Israel. Now, in the battle against Covid-19, Mr Netanyahu needs their help.
Arabs make up only a fifth of Israel’s population, but represent half the country’s pharmacists, a quarter of its nurses and just under a fifth of its doctors, according to the Central Bureau of Statistics. Some of the nation’s largest hospitals have Arab doctors heading major departments, and the country’s leading virologist is Arab.
The Perils of Social Distancing and Remote Schooling in Palestine (Haaretz)
Extract from a blog on the life of a Jewish Israeli lawyer married to a Palestinian, living in Ramallah.
“The boy wants to eat the chicken,” Miss Chantal started to explain in French, but she stopped when Forat’s face disappeared from the screen. “Can Forat hear me?” she asked me in English.
“Yes,” I said. “But she’s hiding under the table.”
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Palestine DeepDive