PA, PLO officials accuse Israel of deliberately thwarting Palestinian efforts to combat Coronavirus
“The [PA] Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates strongly condemned the arrest of [PA] Minister of Jerusalem Affairs Fadi Al-Hadmi by the occupation police after they barbarically raided his home (Al-Hadmi was arrested for breaching an Israeli ban on PA political activities in Jerusalem –Ed.).
The ministry said that the minister of Jerusalem affairs’ arrest in these circumstances in particular is a continuation ofthe occupation’s steps, which strive to thwart the official and popular Palestinian efforts that are being invested in order to deal with the Corona epidemic.This is a continuing arbitrary arrest that is directed against all of our people in occupied Jerusalem, as an execution of the ominous deal of the century (i.e., refers to US President Donald Trump’s Middle East peace plan; see note below) and a completion of the actions of [Jerusalem’s] Judaization, its annexation, and it being emptied of its original owner citizens, as part of an ongoing ethnic cleansing operation.
PLO Executive Committee member [and head of the PLO Department of Diplomacy and Public Policy] Hanan Ashrawi also condemned the ongoing escalation of the occupation’s violations against the citizens and senior officials in occupied Jerusalem and its surroundings, including the repeated arrests of Minister of Jerusalem Affairs Fadi Al-Hadmi and the harassment of him, as happened yesterday [April 3, 2020] before his release.
Ashrawi noted that these serious and destructive actions come in the framework of [Israel’s] thwarting the Palestinian [PA] government’s efforts to fight the Corona epidemic in the State of Palestine…
Ashrawi noted that from the beginning of the spread of the epidemic, the occupation authorities have deliberately ignored the health situation of the residents of the holy city [of Jerusalem], including ignoring the conducting of checks for the virus for the Palestinian residents in Jerusalem and its surroundings, and thwarting the Palestinian efforts to disinfect the residential neighborhoods, increase awareness, and provide aid to families that were financially harmed during this crisis…
Ashrawi added: ‘The racist and extremist Israeli occupation and its illegal acts, including thwarting the Palestinian efforts against the Corona epidemic, are the real danger threatening the lives of the tens of thousands of defenseless Palestinians in Jerusalem and outside of it.’”