Halhul - difficult economically and a sad Ramadan in Corona days

O. rang to ask about his petition, after his request for the removal of the security precaution was denied.

In the meantime, we also discussed the situation. In Halhul , there are no sick people , and in general, he says the situation about the Corona is better than in Israel, in terms of morbidity. But the government is not helping and therefore the financial situation is difficult. Ramadan is as sad holiday this year . They can't uphold the customs that are, apart from fasting during the day, praying at mosques, hosting relatives and friends and staying with them for Iftar dinners in the evenings, exchanging gifts and giving charity. The corona also forces people to stay in their homes and they have no means of buying groceries, holiday foods and gifts as is customary. According to him, the Palestinian authority is forcing people to remain in their homes , but there is hardly any financial help. They said they would give some financial help at the end of Ramadan (then celebrate Eid al-Fitr) and meanwhile the financial situation is very difficult.

He wants to petition the court against the prevention and on the face of it there seems to be a good chance of success. But there seems to be little change that he will be able to pay even the low costs that we are asking for. (2,300 shekel which is much lower than most lawyers take and covers only the cost of the court. Even in the better days many Palestinians as it is, cannot pay and waive the petition, and all the more so now).

Those who want to earn a living go out to work in Israel and risk becoming sick and those who do not have permission can be caught without a permit (and then become a police prevented which is very difficult "get rid of"). But O. believes he will also have to do this to bring food to his family. If the choice is between risking or getting caught and bringing food to children - he chooses his children ...

Why do we take the trouble to report in Corona times as well?

Because democracy’s watchdogs have fallen asleep on their own watch, so Israeli citizens have no idea what is actually happening in the Occupied Territories, especially now.

Day and night, Israeli soldiers (as the State’s emissaries) help extreme settler-colonists take the law into their own hands, unhampered. They do not stop even in days of a raging pandemic and do not hesitate to harm Palestinians – their bodies, property, and sources of livelihood.

Unceasing harassment of the weakened Palestinian population inflicts psychological harm as well. All – from babies through and including the elderly and the ill – are open prey to Jewish violence and terrorism which the settler-colonists are only too eager to exert.

We of MachsomWatch will not cease to report, certainly not now during these Corona times and under the threat of annexation, about the settlers’ increased rampages, those who hurry to set facts on the ground helped by the Israeli army.

Israel rules the West Bank, and by force of the Geneva Convention, article no. 27, it is committed to enforcing law and order there. The inhabitants of these Occupied Territories have the legal right “to decent treatment of their body and dignity, and should be especially protected against any act of violence”.

Ironically, this is not at all upheld.

Nor shall we cooperate with the commonplace ignoring of the Palestinian people’s suffering, and with the Israeli public’s indifference to it. We shall continue to follow up closely and report the goings-on in the West Bank, in its villages and encampments.

No one should be able to say ‘We knew nothing, we heard nothing’