We have nobody but ourselves’: Palestinians in Israel unite to combat coronavirus
Volunteers in Haifa preparing food boxes for older people and families in need
Suha Arraf reports in +972:
Like many communities around the world, Palestinian citizens of Israel didn’t take the new coronavirus outbreak seriously in its early days. They carried on with their lives, mostly in denial — perhaps because of the slap in the face that was U.S. President Donald Trump’s “Deal of the Century,” which now seems like a relic of the past century. But as the number of patients in Israel continued to climb, Palestinian citizens began to panic, especially given the scarcity of official information in Arabic.
This moment of crisis has inspired cooperation and solidarity among Palestinian citizens, who make up 20 percent of the population. Political activists as well as private citizens are enlisting to fight the virus and its impact on society — from donation drives, to online therapy sessions, to virtual skill-sharing classes.
Given the poor infrastructure in Arab cities and towns, the High Follow-Up Committee, an umbrella organization that represents the country’s Palestinian citizens, established a national health committee, enlisting top-quality doctors and medical experts to publish essential information. “The situation in Arab locales is one big disaster when it comes to emergencies,” says Mohammad Barakeh, the head of the High Follow-Up Committee. “Medical services in Arab villages are even worse than in third world countries.”
According to Barakeh, a national emergency committee will also be formed, to synchronize information and provide answers to municipalities and local councils. “There’s a lot of work with local authorities, on issues of health and education, so we decided to unite all these efforts under the same umbrella,” he says.
The organization will also operate a hotline for small business owners, adds Barakeh. “There are businesses in the Arab community that will not be able to land back on their feet, and we will also see a rise in unemployment,” he says.
Members of the Joint List, the slate uniting the Palestinian-led political parties in Israel, are also responding to the unfolding public health crisis. They intervened to bring back Palestinian students studying abroad (many of whom study medicine). In addition, Joint List MKs applied pressure on the state to provide budgets to Arab local authorities, which lack the means to combat the virus. The National Union of Arab Local Authorities also joined the fight.