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".

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Egypt to open Gaza border for Palestinians during Ramadan

May 19, 2018  04H:19  GMT/UTC/ZULU TIME

by Nasra Ismail and Biodun Iginla, BBC News and Reuters, Gaza, Palestine

RAFAH, GAZA, PALESTINE - Gazans lined up from dawn on Friday to travel across the border into Egypt after President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said his country’s gateway with the Gaza Strip would be opened throughout the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

A Palestinian boy looks out a bus window as he waits to travel into Egypt through the Rafah border crossing, in the southern Gaza Strip May 18, 2018. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa

Sisi’s announcement late Thursday, if fully implemented, would open the Rafah crossing to Palestinians for the longest single period in years.

The Egyptian leader’s Twitter account said the opening of the crossing would “alleviate the burdens of brothers in Gaza.” On Friday the first Gaza passengers who lined up from 5 a.m. were finally let through into Egypt eight hours later, at 1 p.m.

Hamas has denied Cairo pressure but the opening was widely seen in Gaza and Israel as the likely result of a deal to provide Gazans with a lifeline to the outside world in return for the de-escalation of a deadly six-week protest on the Gaza-Israel border.

Israeli troops killed dozens of Palestinians at the ‘Great March of Return’ protest on May 14, the day that the United States opened its new embassy to Israel in the contested holy city of Jerusalem.

“This is political. I can bet my life on it,” said one 34-year-old Gazan as he waited among busloads of passengers at Rafah.

A Palestinian girl sleeps as she waits with her mother to travel to Egypt through the Rafah border crossing, in the southern Gaza Strip May 18, 2018. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa

He pointed to the May 13 visit by Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh to Egypt, which has sought to act as a broker between Israel, Hamas and its Palestinian rivals.

“I believe this is part of a deal Haniyeh made with the Egyptians, who asked him to calm down the situation in Gaza,” he said, refusing to give his surname because he feared Egypt would refuse him entry.

“We are not against it. On the contrary, we hope it will also include lifting the Israeli blockade. It would mean the marches were effective.”

With Israeli border crossings closed to the vast majority of Palestinians since Hamas seized control of Gaza in 2007, the Egyptian border has become critical to Gaza’s economic survival.

Although Hamas controls Gaza, it is not directly in control of the strip's most important crossings, Rafah with Egypt and Erez with Israel. It handed control of those crossings late last year to its rival, the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority, in a reconciliation deal signed in Cairo.[tmsnrt.rs/2wP39MO]

Egyptian government spokesmen did not immediately respond to requests for comment on whether Egypt had indeed brokered a deal.

Preaching in Gaza on the first Friday of Ramadan, Hamas leader Haniyeh did not say whether he had reached a deal with Egypt. Instead he sought to present the Rafah opening as the fruit of protests which, he said, had “revived the Palestinian cause and attracted international and Arab support.”

“We are witnessing steps, we are witnessing a real beginning for lifting the blockade on Gaza,” he said.

Slideshow (3 Images)

But Israel said recent events showed Hamas has never been weaker, short of money and weakened by isolation. Officals say Hamas has been “weaponising” civil unrest after seeing its rockets and attack tunnels blunted by Israeli counter-measures.

“Egypt is very dominant in relations with Hamas,” Israel’s Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked told Israeli radio. “Hamas controls everything, and they simply understood that they have a lot to lose - both from Israel and from Egypt.”

Israel cited security considerations for imposing its closures on Gaza, fearing suicide bombers and gun and knife attacks on Israelis.

The Gaza-Israel border protests were less crowded on Friday than in earlier weeks. Hundreds, instead of thousands, gathered at the border camps, burning tyres as Israelis fired tear gas.

Elsewhere, the first Friday prayers of Ramadan passed peacefuly - including in Jerusalem, where tens of thousands gathered to pray at Al-Aqsa mosque.

(For a graphic on 'Map of Gaza Crossings and Protest Sites' click tmsnrt.rs/2wP39MO)

U.S. Embassy road signs go up in Jerusalem

May7, 2018  21H:19  GMT/UTC/ZULU TIME

by Jenny Feder and Biodun Iginla, BBC News and Reuters, Jerusalem

JERUSALEM - U.S. Embassy road signs went up in Jerusalem on Monday before next week’s opening of the mission in accordance with President Donald Trump’s recognition of the city as Israel’s capital.

Trump says he is making good on U.S. legislation and presidential pledges dating back decades. Other world powers have not done so, sidestepping one of the thorniest disputes between Israel and the Palestinians, who want their own state with East Jerusalem as the capital.

Workmen installed the black-and-white signs, in English, Hebrew and Arabic, along roads leading to a U.S. consulate building in south Jerusalem that will be remodeled as the embassy when it is formally relocated from Tel Aviv on May 14.

“This is not a dream. It is reality. I am proud and moved to have hung this morning the first new signs that were prepared for the U.S. Embassy,” Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat wrote on Twitter.

Israel captured East Jerusalem from Jordanian control in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed it in a move not recognized internationally. The last round of peace talks on a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip collapsed in 2014.

“This (embassy) move is not only illegal but will also thwart the achievement of a just and lasting peace between two sovereign and democratic states on the 1967 borders, Israel and Palestine living side by side in peace and security,” Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said in a statement.

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Trump will not attend the opening. The U.S. delegation will include Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, Trump’s daughter Ivanka Trump and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, as well as American Ambassador David Friedman and Jason Greenblatt, Trump’s Middle East peace negotiator, the White House said on Monday.

“THRILLED”

At the consulate site, mechanical diggers cleared scrubland as workers posted embassy signs along city roads and hung U.S., Israeli and Jerusalem flags from street lights.

“We are thrilled that the American Embassy is coming here, finally,” said Ruthann Nahum, 64, a New Yorker who moved to Israel 35 years ago. A restaurateur, she lives in the overwhelmingly Jewish neighborhood of Arnona.

A worker hangs a road sign directing to the U.S. embassy, in the area of the U.S. consulate in Jerusalem, May 7, 2018. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun

“Welcome Trump, we belong here, forever. Jerusalem is our capital,” she said.

The Trump administration has left the diplomatic door open to a negotiated settlement between Israel and the Palestinians on defining Jerusalem’s borders.

“By recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and the seat of its government, we’re recognizing reality,” U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said during a visit to Israel last week.

“I also stress, as President Trump has said in December, the boundaries of Israeli sovereignty in Jerusalem remain subject to negotiations between the parties, and we remain committed to achieving a lasting and comprehensive peace that offers a brighter future for both Israel and the Palestinians.”

Slideshow (8 Images)

On Monday, Paraguay said it was planning to move its embassy to Jerusalem, becoming the third country after the United States and Guatemala to do so.