• This Month on WestView News
  • Featured
  • Monthly Columns
  • Editorials
  • Articles
  • Briefly Noted
  • WestViews
  • Photos
  • Front Page
  • About Us
  • Subscribe
  • Advertise
  • EXTRA
WESTVIEW NEWS
Menu
  • This Month on WestView News
  • Featured
  • Monthly Columns
  • Editorials
  • Articles
  • Briefly Noted
  • WestViews
  • Photos
 › Articles › Palestinians Persecuted During the Pandemic

Palestinians Persecuted During the Pandemic

Web Admin 12/03/2020     Articles

By J. Taylor Basker

The Pandemic has not only caused illness and death to Palestinians but provides an opportunity for Israel to increase its persecution and policies of destruction in Palestine.  International law mandates that Israel, as the occupying power, is responsible that Palestinians have full medical care. However, it has made it difficult for Palestinians to survive COVID-19 due to a longtime policy of weakening the medical system in Gaza and the West Bank under its 53-year-old occupation. Military raids and restrictions on imports make the donor-dependent medical system vulnerable, causing shortages in equipment, medication and staff. Attacks on Palestinian medical facilities continue. Between 2008-2014 the Israeli bombardments of Gaza destroyed 147 hospitals and clinics, 80 ambulances, and injured or killed 145 medical workers. Israel’s blockade restricts medical supplies and equipment including supplies and equipment for chemotherapy. Cancer patients need a permit to get treated.  

In the West Bank there are only 225 intensive care beds for three million people, and only 120 in Gaza for 2 million. There are only 6,440 hospital beds for all of Palestine. The healthcare sector has been decimated by Israeli policies that make it totally dependent on the donor community and Israel for supplies and equipment. Israel received good press in March for “allowing” 50,000 internationally donated masks and 3,000 tests from the World Health Organization to the West Bank, but the quantities were much below what is needed for five million people. 

Israel takes advantage of the Pandemic and Trump’s last days in office to increase its policies of demolishing homes. Over 500 homes were recently destroyed making nearly 900 Palestinians homeless, almost half children. It has destroyed or confiscated medical, water, and agricultural facilities in Palestine, attacking its ability to respond to the Pandemic. Meanwhile, there are more illegal land-grabs by settlers and Israeli military, since Palestinians cannot organize group protest actions.  

A protest against the persecution of Palestinians during the Pandemic was held Nov. 13 at the Consulate of Israel on Second Avenue in NYC. Frank Romano & I handed out leaflets and engaged in discussions, including with Israelis. Farid Bitar, Palestinian poet, whose new book Screaming Olives is coming out soon, read his amazing poem to all including the police who were very friendly. (There were a large number of police present, way outnumbering the protestors!). In the rain, Farid was a voice for the threatened village of Khan al-Ahmar, the end of occupation and prisoners arrested with no charges as Maher al-Akhras, who has been shacked to a bed for 92 days and on hunger strike who says in Farid’s poem he “is hungry for Palestine” “You can chain me, torture me, rape me but you cannot break me” Farid proclaimed for him. 

Meanwhile Pompeo is visiting illegal settlements, and declared that the BDS (Boycott, Divest and Sanction movement) is anti-Semitic. This must include President Dwight D. Eisenhower, who put sanctions on Israel when it illegally invaded Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula in 1956.

Farid Bitar reading his poem for Palestinian prisoners in front of Israeli Consulate, NYC. Photo by J. Taylor Basker, Nov. 13, 2020.

 Previous Post

Pompeii Flea Market/Bleecker Street Market

Next Post 

Oxidative Phosphorylation: Life’s Energy Source

Related Articles

Karen Rempel at UN Gala Honoring Joe Biden in 2017
Catch and Release
Hummel
Warhol and Wallowitch —a Gay Affair
Using Speech Recognition to Control Your Desktop and Programs
How Do I Love Thee? Let Me Count the Compliments
Our Way Out of This: I Think Not
From Ancient Sparta to Modern Denmark: The Rationalization of Eugenics
James E. Murphy, Consultant
It’s Just Politics
VID Endorses City Council Candidates
Being Black Isn’t a Crime
HOW SWEDE IT IS
Oxidative Phosphorylation: Life’s Energy Source
Participate as We Cover Local Elections
Polly Trottenberg – Good Riddance
Oxidative Phosphorylation: Life’s Energy Source
Book Review: Children’s Piano Primer 1 2 3 Do Re Mi 
Urban Native Artists Show at the Revelation Gallery
New York Time Capsule
I’m From Joe’s Hometown
Who’s the Dolly Parton Patron Saint of Curing AIDS?
Wenceslaus
Holly Claus Awakens Our Dreams
DAVID NORMAN DINKINS, 7/10/1927-11/23/2020
Who You Are in Times of Uncertainty
The Evolution of Winter Holidays: From Saturnalia to the Christmas Season
Could a Win at Beth Israel Be Near?
Goodbye Charlie
New York Apartment Prices Poised to Drop 20%
Vija Saved From the Government
Our Neighbors At NYCHA – New Crisis With Paint
Permanent Outdoor Dining? Government By Fiat—Without Caution
Joan’s Shanghai
SUPER HERO VIII: What the Cats Drag In
Reimagining Solutions
Mayor de Blasio: Billionaire’s Hand Puppet
Getting Specific About Your Anxiety
Thrifting

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

January 2020

Subscribe Now

January 2020

Donate Now

Read the Archives

Sign up for WestView News EXTRA

Copyright © WestView News