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Thursday, March 5, 2020

ANALYSIS AND BREAKING: Bethlehem under lockdown after virus cases confirmed

Issued on: 06/03/2020 - 04:34Modified: 06/03/2020 - 06:32 GMT/ZULU

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Bethlehem, Palestine

by Jenny Feder and Biodun Iginla, France24 News Analysts

Israel has imposed a lockdown on the city of Bethlehem over coronavirus fears as Palestinian authorities announced a two-week ban on tourists and shuttered the Church of the Nativity.

The moves came after Palestinian authorities said seven cases had been confirmed in the Bethlehem area south of Jerusalem on Thursday and announced a 30-day state of emergency and the cancellation of large gatherings.

All Israelis and Palestinians "are forbidden from entering or leaving the city", the Israeli defence ministry said in a statement, adding the lockdown had been imposed "in coordination with the Palestinian Authority".

Israel controls all entrances to the West Bank from the Jewish state but the Palestinian government has limited autonomy in cities.

The Church of the Nativity, built on the site that Christians believe was the birthplace of Jesus, was closed on Thursday and is among the sites expected to be shuttered until March 20.

"We have decided to prevent the entry of tourists for a period of 14 days and to prevent hotels in all cities from receiving foreigners," tourism minister Rula Maayah told us at France24.

All travel between governorates without permission was now prohibited, Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh told local TV.

The Palestinian health ministry said the cases had first been detected at a hotel in the Bethlehem area.

All were being treated in quarantine, it added.

The head of the local health directorate, Imad Shahadeh, told us at France24 that a group of Greek tourists had visited the hotel in late February, with two later diagnosed with the virus.

A number of suspected cases have since been identified among hotel workers, he said.

Government officials announced a series of measures in the occupied West Bank, also including the cancellation of large sporting events and other major gatherings.

Asbed Balian, senior cleric of the Armenian church at the Church of the Nativity, said infected visitors had entered the site.

"People affected by corona visited the church," he told AFP. "It will be closed for 14 days and they are going to spray antiseptic."

Schools, universities and mosques in Bethlehem were also closed Thursday and the Palestine Marathon, scheduled for March 27, has been postponed.

COGAT, the Israeli body responsible for civilian activities in the Palestinian Territories, said it was "working closely with the Palestinian Authority" to stem the spread of the virus.

Israel, which so far has 16 confirmed cases of the disease, has imposed stringent measures on many European nations in a bid to contain the virus.

Israel has also scrapped joint military exercises with the United States in Germany.

The Israeli army announced that from noon Friday all forces would be prevented from leaving Israel, whether "on personal trips or on duty".

Tuesday, June 25, 2019

ANALYSIS AND BREAKING: US kicks off Mideast plan, with Palestinians boycotting

Date created : 25/06/2019 - 11:08 GMT/ZULU

Stone-carrying Palestinians near Hebron stand behind a burning tyre as they protest against a US-led Middle East conference in Bahrain AFP

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Manama (Bahrain)

by Leila Mohamed and Biodun Iginla, France24 News Analysts

After a wait of two and a half years, the US administration is launching its Middle East peace plan Tuesday -- with an economic initiative that the Palestinians are boycotting.

For this most unconventional of US presidents, Donald Trump's Middle East peace-making bid is unlike decades of previous US attempts.

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There is no talk of land swaps, a Palestinian state or other political issues that have vexed diplomats for decades.

The Trump administration says it will get to the political issues later.

For now, its plan will open over cocktails and dinner Tuesday evening in Bahrain at an intimate two-day "economic workshop" at a luxury hotel overlooking the Gulf.

Led by Trump's son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner, the "Peace to Prosperity" framework dangles the prospect of $50 billion of investment in the Palestinian territories and neighbouring Arab countries over 10 years.

Listing a slew of projects to develop roads, border crossings, power generation and tourism, the framework sets an optimistic goal of creating one million Palestinian jobs.

But the Palestinian Authority and its rival Hamas have both denounced the initiative, saying it amounts to a bid by the unabashedly pro-Israel Trump to buy them off in return for not enjoying their own state.

"For America to turn the whole cause from a political issue into an economic one, we cannot accept this," Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas said Sunday.

Hundreds of Palestinians took to the streets in the occupied West Bank on Monday to denounce the conference.

Near Hebron, demonstrators burned pictures of Trump and the king of Bahrain.

They sat around a coffin that read, "No to the deal of the century", a derogatory phrase for the US president's ambitions in the Middle East.

- Trump support for Israel -

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has cast the Palestinians' stance as a sign that they are not serious about peace.

"I don't understand how the Palestinians rejected the plan even before knowing what it contained," Netanyahu said.

The right-wing Israeli leader has spoken in recent months of annexing parts of the West Bank, a move that could effectively close Palestinian hopes of their own state.

The US ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, has said that Washington could accept the annexation and the Trump administration has hinted that its political plan will not mention a Palestinian state -- a sharp shift from the goal of years of US diplomacy.

Trump has already taken landmark steps to support Israel including recognising bitterly contested Jerusalem as Israel's capital, and Kushner is a family friend of Netanyahu.

Most European allies of the United States, uneasy about the Trump administration's hawkish instincts, are staying away from Bahrain.

In attendance will be oil-rich Gulf Arab states, who would be expected to pick up the tab for the massive Palestinian investment if the plan succeeds.

Jordan and Egypt, the only two Arab nations to have signed peace deals with Israel, will also send mid-level officials.

However, Jordanian foreign ministry spokesman Sufyan al-Qudah insisted that "no economic proposal could replace a political solution that ends the occupation" of Palestinian territories by Israel.

- Success in 'failure'? -

Gulf Arab rulers have increasingly found common cause with Israel due to their shared hostility to Iran, reinforced by rising friction between Tehran and Washington.

In an apparently unprecedented step, a handful of Israeli journalists invited by the White House are flying openly to Bahrain.

Most Arab nations ban Israeli citizens unless they enter on other passports, although Bahrain -- whose Sunni rulers have especially tense relations with Iran -- is comparatively open to Israel.

Other prominent figures due to take part in the Bahrain conference are International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde, World Bank President David Malpass and former British prime minister Tony Blair.

Richard LeBaron, a former US diplomat in the Middle East, said that the Trump administration fully expected that the Palestinians would stay away.

But Bahrain allows Kushner to portray Palestinian leaders as not caring about their own people as he keeps advancing Israeli interests, said LeBaron, now a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council think tank.

"The 'failure' of the Manama workshop will be success for the Trump strategy," he wrote in an analysis.

"It will permit Kushner and his colleagues to claim that they tried their best to address the situation and allow them to blame others for not cooperating."