Huwwara

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Observers: 
Ana S. transfers a telephone report, Nathalie C. (translation to Hebrew)
Apr-23-2020
|
Morning

KFAR KASSEM in Corona times.

COVID-19.  In this city of  25,000  mostly Muslim people, only 15 are now Corona infected, but not hospitalized. One of them, the first to get sick here, works in Beilinson Hospital, and has already recovered. Another man had returned from the US and infected his parents and family.

EDUCATION: online teaching is available for all grades.

 A’s daughter, who also teaches online, told him that her school recently discussed a gradual return to classes. However, all Kfar Kassem parents oppose their children’s return to school. Even for those in kindergarten and in special education classes, the two groups are functioning again in Israel.  But not so in Kfar Kassem.

LOCKDOWN. Children are still at home—almost none go out. Except to work or do vital shopping, adults also stay home. Before Corona, A. drove children to their Special Educational Schools. Every day, he did  6 trips back and forth. Now, he and his neighbors are busy doing jobs they didn’t have time to do before the pandemic—repairing and painting their homes.

 

FAMILY. His son and daughter-in-law are both nurses and work in Hospitals. His sons-in-law also work in Hospitals.  His family—children and grandchildren—don’t enter his house. His son who works in a hospital is especially careful not to infect his parents: he speaks to them in the street from a safe distance of 5m

According to A., there have been no new patients yesterday or today in these Hospitals. New patients come mostly from the North and the South.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              HUWWARA.    In all the Shechem region, including Huwwara, there are no sick people. In Jenin, there are some. But in general, says A., only in the South, in Ramallah and Bethlehem, have Palestinians become infected.

He was there yesterday shopping, but the Palestinian police noticed the yellow numbers in his car and looked for him. Entering the shop where he was, they told him he should leave right away because he is not a resident.

Whereas before Corona, none were seen in Huwwara, many Palestinian police walk around this town now, enforcing the strict Corona rules.

CLOSUREinfo-icon.

Till yesterday, only vital shops were open: supermarkets, bakeries, and pharmacies. Their opening hours remain the same. Since yesterday, however, in preparation for the Ramadan which begins tomorrow at 3.25 am, other shops, including those selling construction materials, are now allowed to open, but only from 10 am till 5 pm. So many people were in the street.

In Nablus, all the shops were open.

However, in the South, in Ramallah and in Bethlehem, where the pandemic has spread, only vital shops were open.

WORKERS RETURNING FROM ISRAEL.

Unlike what we heard from Kufr Kalil and Sinjil, A. says that workers returning from Israel are checked at the checkpoints. For instance, near Nescha and Zawi villages, there is a mobile checkpoint. When workers got off here, their temperature was checked, and their names entered in a Registry of those having returned to the West Bank. A Palestinian policeman then accompanied them home. They are required to be in quarantine at home for 2 weeks. In Machsom Yakir, the main entrance to Bidya village, non-residents are stopped. Only residents are allowed to enter the village.

In the West Bank, they take no chances. They are more careful, claims A., than in Israel.