“Police and the Health Ministry said Tuesday that they have set up dedicated task forces composed of police officers and inspectors to prevent the spread of the virus. The teams will ensure that all people in isolation comply with the ministry’s guidelines, a statement explained. Police will have access to data about the comings and goings of civilians in and out of the country through the Interior Ministry to help them track travelers and check up on them. ‘We appeal to the public and seek to heed the instructions of the Health Ministry on this issue, as ignoring them disrupts the national effort to combat the virus outbreak and its spread in Israel,’ the Police said. ‘We urge the public to act with restraint and responsibility.’”

“The new guidelines come a day after Israel drastically ratcheted up its efforts to protect the country from the coronavirus threat, requiring all those arriving from abroad to go into quarantine. All Israeli citizens returning from overseas were ordered to self-quarantine for 14 days with immediate effect. Non-Israeli citizens will be allowed into the country until Thursday at 8pm. But after that, they will be barred completely unless they can demonstrate that they have a place to quarantine here for 14 days. The move will essentially shut down tourism and send shockwaves through Israel’s already battered travel sector. Israelis who are abroad have been warned they should consider coming back sooner rather than later as increasing numbers of flights to Tel Aviv are being canceled by both El Al and other carriers. Over 100 flights were canceled Tuesday at Ben Gurion Airport, Channel 12 reported.”

“In the shadow of the spread of coronavirus across Israel-Palestine, over 250 Israeli settlers took part in the annual parade to celebrate the Jewish holiday of Purim in the center of occupied Hebron on Tuesday. The settlers, who marched from the neighborhood of Tel Rumeida to the Tomb of the Patriarchs, were accompanied by hundreds of Israeli soldiers and police officers who prevented Palestinian onlookers from approaching. The settlers boasted that theirs was the only Purim festival that was allowed to take place, after parties in cities across the country were cancelled due to fears of the virus; however, attendance was sparser than in previous years.”

“With an Israeli-enforced lockdown and a few tin barrels placed by Palestinian police in strategic exits without an Israeli checkpoint, the area was effectively cut off, with no one permitted in or out of the city. In the first days of the outbreak in Bethlehem, though, there seems to have been some exceptions, as a group of doctors and nurses at the St. John of Jerusalem Eye Hospital were given special permission to leave Bethlehem to come work at the hospital, according to one of the nurses there. ‘It is easy to close down Bethlehem. Bethlehem is a big Bantustan,’ said George Rishmawi, the executive director of Masar Ibrahim Al-Khalil, referring to the term used in Apartheid South Africa to describe the territory set apart for black South Africans. ‘It is easy to isolate Bethlehem with the system put together by Israel.’ While supporting the need for such a quarantine at the moment, Rishmawi said this is just an early warning of how the system would work should U.S. President Donald Trump’s ‘Deal of the Century’ be implemented, with Israel limiting movement in Bantustan-like areas, he said.”

“Jordan said it would partially shut down its border crossings with Israel and the West Bank Tuesday as it attempts to stop the spread of the novel coronavirus. The Jordanian Cabinet also decided to close crossings to and from Lebanon and to halt traffic to and from Syria with the exception of trucks carrying goods.”

“Blue and White leader Benny Gantz’s chances of building a coalition took a blow on Tuesday, when Gesher leader Orly Levy-Abecassis left the Labor-Gesher-Meretz alliance and announced she would not back a minority government dependent on the Joint List of Arab parties. Levy-Abecassis said publicly during the campaign that she had no problem supporting a minority government backed by the Joint List, but revealed on Facebook Tuesday that she had said the opposite privately ahead of the race.”

“Left-wing leaders savaged their former political ally MK Orly Levy-Abekasis on Wednesday after she announced she would not support a minority government led by the centrist Blue and White party that was backed by the Arab-majority Joint List. Levy-Abekasis, who failed in her bid to enter the Knesset in April with her standalone Gesher party, won a seat in the September and March races through unions with the left-wing Labor and Meretz parties. On Tuesday, she appeared to deliver a possibly fatal blow to Blue and White leader Benny Gantz’s chances to form a government, announcing in a Facebook post that a Joint List-backed minority government ‘violates basic norms and values,’ that she would not vote for such a government, and that she no longer sees herself beholden to her alliance with Labor and Meretz.”

“Representatives from Benny Gantz’s Kahol Lavan party met  Wednesday with representatives of the Joint List alliance of Arab-majority parties in an attempt to form a minority government, which the List would not join, but support from the outside. Joint List lawmaker Ahmad Tibi said after the meeting that the sides discussed ‘upcoming parliamentary issues’ as well as the issue of backing Gantz for prime minister. According to Tibi, the sides are slated to meet again.”

“In a joint statement Wednesday, Gantz and Peretz seemed to brush that setback aside and reaffirm their willingness to cooperate with the Joint List. They ‘agreed to continue their strategic partnership and to continue with efforts to form a government, harnessing all the partners in the political system to prevent Netanyahu and Likud from dragging the country to a fourth election,’ the statement said.”

“Israel’s largely ceremonial president on Wednesday urged the country’s opposing blocs to find a way to come together in the wake of Israel’s third inconclusive election in less than a year. The president is responsible for choosing the prime minister-designate he thinks has the best chance of forming a stable government. Upon officially receiving the results of last week’s vote, Reuven Rivlin said he was open to any proposal brought forward but made a point to suggest that his framework from the previous round of failed negotiations was still relevant. Rivlin, who will begin formal consultations with party leaders next week, took an active role in the previous round of talks and urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party and challenger Benny Gantz’s Blue and White party to join together in a unity government.”

Marwan Muasher writes, “The second outcome of the three elections is the steady, and probably permanent, rise of an Arab bloc in the Knesset. Since the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948, Arab citizens have gone from feeling besieged, marginalized, and uneasy about being part of the Israeli system, to slowly becoming empowered, aware of their own strength, and determined to fight discrimination and marginalization by standing up to the system through the rules it has laid down.”

“The disappointment bordering on fury among the Israeli left was palpable. Levy, once a member of Knesset in Avigdor Liberman’s nationalist Yisrael Beitenu party, had long sought to rebrand herself as a socially minded activist far more interested in public housing and health than upholding Jewish supremacy. Her pledges to include an “equality clause” in the Jewish Nation-State Law and growing opposition to the hardline, anti-Palestinian policies of the hyper-nationalist right made her more palpable to centrists and leftists who were otherwise suspicious of her politics. But by turning her back on the Joint List, and on the voters who supported her and believed she would give her blessing to a minority government, Levy has driven a stake through one of the most delicate and potentially revolutionary moments in contemporary Israeli politics.”

“Jerusalem District Court on Tuesday rejected Benjamin Netanyahu’s request to delay his corruption trial on the grounds that his defense team has not received all of the relevant material from the prosecution. The trial will begin in the same court as scheduled on March 17. The prime minister, who is facing criminal charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust, submitted his request on Sunday through his attorney Amit Hadad.”

“UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI), an activist organisation which focuses on attacking supporters of Palestinian human rights, has been forced to retract allegations against children’s rights NGO, Defence for Children International – Palestine (DCIP), following legal action. The news comes as DCIP reached a settlement in a defamation case against UKLFI. On its website, UKLFI stated: ‘In 2018 we wrote about Defence for Children International – Palestine and referred to links between some past board members and a designated terrorist organisation, the PFLP. We would like to clarify that we did not intend to suggest that the organisation has close current links, or provides any financial or material support to any terrorist organisation.’ In a press release issued shortly after news broke of the settlement, DCIP noted that UKLFI has been targeting DCIP since 2018 ‘through a well-orchestrated political and media misinformation campaign aimed at isolating it, seriously harming its reputation and integrity as a human rights organisation, and preventing it from receiving charitable donations or raising funds.’”

In June 2019, represented by Bindmans LLP, DCIP “issued libel proceedings against UKLFI in London at the High Court of Justice for publishing blog posts on their website and sending letters to institutional donors alleging DCIP had strong ‘links’ to a designated terrorist group.”

“The clashes erupted against the backdrop of a tour by Israeli settlers to a fortress at an archaeological site near Nablus in Area B, a zone that up 22 percent of the West Bank, and is under Palestinian Authority civilian control and Israeli security control. According to the settlers, the fortress dates back to the Hasmonean era.”

“WhatsApp has said its lawsuit against the Israeli spyware maker NSO Group encountered an unusual delay because of a legal holdup involving the government, raising questions about whether Israel will play a role in the company’s case…Amnesty International and other rights groups took legal action last year against Israel’s defence ministry, demanding it revoke NSO Group’s export licence following accusations that activists were targeted.”