“Bernie Sanders has called Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu a ‘reactionary racist’ and blasted Saudi Arabia’s rulers as ‘murderous thugs’ while calling for an even-handed US diplomacy that prioritises human rights and multilateralism. His presidential campaign, which he suspended on Wednesday, transformed US politics domestically and challenged the bipartisan consensus around several key foreign policy issues, including unconditional support for Israel. Arab-American activists paid homage to Sanders’ campaign vowing to grow the political momentum they built around his candidacy. ‘We stood with Bernie Sanders because of ideas, not because of a political party or because of one particular election,’ said Amer Zahr, a Palestinian-American activist and comedian who had been campaigning for the senator. ‘And so while I’m obviously sad today, I’m very optimistic about the gains that our movement has achieved since 2016.’”

“In a pre-Passover call last week, Democratic National Committee chairman Tom Perez looked to reassure Jewish Democrats that the party will support a two-state solution in regards to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. ‘We want to make sure that our platform, which is our values statement of our party, is a platform that you can be proud of, a platform that, again, reaffirms our commitment to a two-state solution—negotiated directly by the parties,’ said Perez during the call with Jewish party members on April 2. The platform will be voted on during the Democratic National Convention, which was rescheduled from July 13-16 to the week of Aug. 17, in Milwaukee. Perez also mentioned that Matt Nosanchuk, who was recently hired as the DNC’s liaison to the Jewish community, will contact Jewish Democrats in the weeks ahead to get their insight.”

“The Gaza Strip has no more coronavirus test kits, Palestinian health officials said on Wednesday, amid fears of disaster if the illness spreads in the blockaded, densely packed enclave. ‘Testing at our central laboratory has stopped, after coronavirus test kits completely ran out,’ Gaza health ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qidra said. The ministry is run by the enclave’s Islamist rulers, Hamas.”

“The United Arab Emirates this week provided medical supplies and other assistance worth hundreds of thousands of dollars to Palestinians, including those in East Jerusalem, something the Israeli government views as an illegal act in its capital.Ibrahim Rashid, head of the UAE International Humanitarian and Charity Organization for Palestine, met with Palestinian officials and prominent Jerusalem figures on Monday to brief them on a series of humanitarian programs and interventions for the city. These come in addition to the charity’s ongoing $500,000+ project to help 650 Palestinian orphans via the Zakat Committee for East Jerusalem. Fleur Hassan-Nahoum, deputy mayor of Jerusalem, says that more than one player has been trying to further its political agenda by interfering in the eastern part of the city. ‘We are fully aware of illegal donations in East Jerusalem,’ she told The Media Line. ‘We are also aware that the Turkish government is involved with several organizations there.’ Hassan-Nahoum stressed that the only legitimate authority on the ground in East Jerusalem was the Jerusalem Municipality.” [And yet: Mayor sends harshly worded letter to Health Ministry claiming promises to provide coronavirus equipment to East Jerusalem hospitals are not being fulfilled]

“Officials in Ramallah had initially gone along with Israel’s decision to allow some workers to remain in Israel for a month or two: those under the age of 50 in industries it deemed essential, including agriculture, health and construction. But Palestinian officials expected Israel to care for any workers who contracted the virus. After an ailing worker was unceremoniously dumped at a checkpoint by the Israeli police (he later tested negative), the prime minister of the Palestinian Authority, Muhammad Shtayyeh, reversed himself and urged workers to return to the West Bank for their own safety. Now, however, the fear is that many will take his advice — and that large numbers of returning workers could prove unwitting carriers of the virus, an eventuality that would quickly overrun the West Bank’s underequipped hospitals.”

“The coronavirus outbreak poses a dilemma for tens of thousands of Palestinian laborers working inside Israel who are now barred from traveling back and forth. They can stay in Israel, where wages are much higher but the outbreak is more severe, or they can return home to quarantine and unemployment in the West Bank…Many have chosen to go back to the West Bank, including thousands who returned ahead of the Passover holiday in Israel, when work grinds to a halt. Palestinian Authority Labor Minister Nasri Abu Jaish told local media that 8,000 workers came back on Tuesday alone. Their return to the West Bank poses a risk, both to public health and to the Palestinian economy. The Palestinian Authority, which has reported around 250 cases and one fatality, says 73% of the infections have been linked to workers returning from Israel, which is battling a much larger outbreak. Israel has more than 9,400 confirmed cases, including at least 74 fatalities. Last week, Israel sent around 250 Palestinian workers back to the West Bank after a virus outbreak at a chicken slaughterhouse near Jerusalem, where nine workers tested positive.”

“Ordinary Palestinians have set up Covid-19 checkpoints in rural areas of the occupied West Bank that the Palestinian police force is unable to reach due to Israeli restrictions. Lawyer Moayad Samha is one of dozens of civilians deployed along rural roads to enforce the new controls and prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus. Some fear the civilian checkpoints will foster resentment among Palestinians, as villages with no Covid-19 cases turn away residents from places that have recorded an outbreak.  But Samha told AFP that he and others doing roadside monitoring were striving to protect the whole West Bank from a full-scale epidemic. ‘We are trying to detect the virus as much as is possible with our limited means,’ Samha said at the checkpoint in his home village of Ein Yabroud. Following the Oslo accords with Israel signed in the 1990s, the Palestinian Authority controls major cities in the West Bank, but the Israeli military controls 60 percent of the territory. Palestinian police cannot enter many rural villages without first coordinating with the Israelis, who can refuse permission. Those Israeli restrictions, and chronic cash shortages faced by the Palestinian government, have hindered efforts to contain a potential coronavirus outbreak. So the Palestinian police have called on volunteers to help do the job.”

“Three young Gazans tell Haaretz about their turbulent journeys out of the enclave and how being from the Strip is a never-ending bureaucratic nightmare, no matter where you end up.”

“Palestinians who need to verify whether their permits to remain in Israel are still valid have been advised by Israel to download an app that enables the military access to their mobile phones.The app, known as ‘Al Munasiq,’ or ‘The Coordinator’ in Arabic, allows the army to track the user’s phone location as well as access any notifications they receive, files they download or save, and the device’s camera. Palestinians who are granted a permit to reside in Israel – normally for humanitarian reasons or for family reunification – are usually required to physically visit the Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories (Cogat) offices to check their status. As a result of the coronavirus outbreak, the offices are now closed. According to Israel’s Haaretz newspaper, in order to install the app, users need to approve the following terms: ‘We may make use of the information we collect for any purpose, including for security purposes. You agree and declare that you know that all the information you are asked to provide is not required by law or defense regulations, and it is provided of your own free will, so that we can make use of it as we see fit. In addition, you consent that we may store the information you have provided to us in our databases based on our considerations.’ In a letter, Adi Lustigman and Benjamin Agsteribbe, lawyers with Hamoked, an Israel-based human rights organisation, wrote: ‘The connection between clarifying the status of the permits and revealing private information is unclear.  Placing these requirements as the sole default for a person to use the application is extremely unreasonable, and cynically exploits public distress and panic in these grim times for the inappropriate purpose to invade one’s privacy in a manner that damages human dignity.’”

“Israeli troops on Thursday fired rubber bullets toward Palestinian fishermen off the northern Gaza coast, reportedly injuring two of them. The Israel Defense Forces acknowledged that troops opened fire, according to the Kan public broadcaster, but did not confirm any Palestinian injuries. It was not clear from Palestinian reports what prompted the soldiers to open fire. IDF soldiers also reportedly shot and injured a fisherman with rubber bullets on Wednesday.”

“As the international community steps up its humanitarian rhetoric with regard to Palestinians during the coronavirus pandemic, Israel is also aiming to get on board the trend. The Civil Administration announced it will suspend home demolitions in Area C – not out of any concern for Palestinian rights, but in the context of the virus spread. The Palestine Liberation Organisation’s Secretary General, Saeb Erekat, announced last week that UN officials had informed him about the decision taken by Israel to “stop demolitions of Palestinian homes.” The language used by Erekat was misleading. A temporary halt is not a cessation and the PLO is under no obligation to frame the decision as benevolent, or humanitarian, or in any other framework that shifts attention away from the Zionist colonial process that is forcibly displacing Palestinians to steal what remains of their land.”

“The army has built a temporary outpost in the West Bank for a group of 20 far-right extremists who violated the government’s coronavirus guidelines and  shattered the windows of a bus taking them to a quarantine hotel, the military confirmed Wednesday. Photos taken at the site on Wednesday showed that the outpost includes a large tent where the so-called hilltop youth sleep together, a Beit Midrash tent for religious study, a tent for the teens to prepare food, showers, out-houses and a generator. The IDF confirmed that it had established the compound and was providing protection to the far-right activists, but declined to comment further.” Also see: Jerusalem Post – Hilltop youth quarantined together after refusing state facility