Jerusalem Post Israel News Is the PA using coronavirus to violate Israeli sovereignty over Jerusalem?
Israeli authorities say the PA is violating Israeli sovereignty by operating in Jerusalem on the pretext of combating the disease.
The PA and east Jerusalem residents, however, argue that their activities are limited to medical and relief assistance and are totally unrelated to issues of Israeli sovereignty over Jerusalem. In the past few weeks several east Jerusalem residents have been detained by the police on suspicion of carrying out activities on behalf of the PA and the ruling Fatah faction to prevent the spread of the virus in several neighborhoods and villages in the city.On Sunday morning, police officers detained the PA “governor” of Jerusalem, Adnan Gheith.Last Friday, PA Minister for Jerusalem Affairs, Fadi al-Hidmi, was also briefly detained by the police.The two officials are suspected of overseeing the work of “emergency relief committees” that were established in Arab neighborhoods and villages in Jerusalem after the outbreak of coronavirus last month.The committees consist of hundreds of volunteers, some of whom are affiliated with Fatah. The volunteers have been spraying disinfectant and distributing food parcels to many families in Jerusalem.
Last week the police
detained four members of a relief committee in the village of Sur Baher,
south of Jerusalem, and confiscated 300 food parcels.Earlier,
the police detained 12 east Jerusalem residents who were caught
spraying disinfectant in mosques and churches in various parts of the
city. Another four residents were detained for distributing pamphlets
that include instructions to the Arab residents of Jerusalem regarding
the fight against coronavirus.Israel
says that the Palestinians have been acting in violation of the Law for
the Implementation of the Agreement on the Gaza Strip and Jericho Area –
Restriction on Activity – 1994, which bans the PA from carrying out
political, governmental or similar activity within the area of the State
of Israel, including east Jerusalem.The
law prohibits the PA from opening or operating a representative mission
or holding meetings in the area of the State of Israel and authorizes
the police to take any action necessary to ensure its implementation.In the past few months, the police have stepped up their efforts to prevent the PA from operating in Jerusalem.Gheith
and al-Hidmi, the PA’s two senior representatives in Jerusalem, have
been frequently detained for interrogation about their activities among
the Arab residents of the city.The
two, who hold Israeli-issued ID cards in their capacity as permanent
residents of Israel, have also been served with orders banning them from
entering the West Bank. The orders are aimed at preventing Ghieth and
al-Hidmi from coordinating with PA officials concerning their activities
within the Jerusalem Municipality boundaries.On
Sunday, police officers also raided the home of Shadi Mtour,
secretary-general of Fatah in Jerusalem, and summoned him for
interrogation about his activities in the city.Last
week Mtour said that the Israeli authorities were not doing enough to
protect the Arab residents of Jerusalem against the possible spread of
coronavirus. He revealed that dozens of residents have volunteered to
work with a recently established group called The Jerusalem Association
for Combating Coronavirus. The volunteers, he said, include physicians,
nurses, school teachers, journalists, paramedics and lawyers.Lawyer
Majd Owais told the PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida that the Israeli
authorities in Jerusalem give priority to dealing with Jews, “while the
fate of the [Arab] residents remains unknown.”Hours
before he was detained by the police on Sunday morning, Gheith, the PA
governor of Jerusalem, warned Arab residents of the city not to purchase
furniture or any other items from religious Jews on the eve of the
Jewish Holiday of Passover on the pretext that they may be contaminated
with coronavirus.PA Prime
Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh denounced the crackdown on Palestinian
activists in Jerusalem and urged the World Health Organization to
condemn the Israeli measures which, he said, “constitute an attack on
the organization’s protocols in facing this pandemic.”PLO
Executive Committee member Hanan Ashrawi also denounced the crackdown.
She accused Israel of obstructing “all self-help efforts and arresting
volunteers for the crime of assisting Palestinian Jerusalemites in
resisting coronavirus.” Israel, Ahsrawi charged, “wants only defeated or
infected Palestinians.”Some
of the east Jerusalem volunteers who were briefly detained by the
police last week said that their activities were completely unrelated to
political issues. “Since
when is spraying disinfectant in public places considered a crime?”
asked one volunteer from the Old City of Jerusalem. “We are ready to
work with any party that will help the Arabs of Jerusalem. But if Israel
doesn’t want to work with us, it should at least stop preventing us
from helping our people.”Another
volunteer said he and his friends were "shocked" to see how much effort
the Israeli authorities are putting to stop them from helping Arabs in
Jerusalem during the pandemic. "Our work is not political, and there's
no reason for Israel to panic," he said.
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