When asked whether the Hebron municipality was going to take any unilateral steps to counter the deteriorating situation, Abu Sneineh said the city’s role was to conform to the decisions of the PA government, as he believed in the division of powers within the country. “For instance, I don’t understand why weddings were allowed,” the mayor said. He clarified that at the end of the day, citizens needed to work in order to support their families and that therefore a smart and coherent strategy in terms of the closing and opening of sectors was urgently needed. For instance, the construction sector doesn’t need people to interact closely with each other, so it would be really hard to transfer the virus among those who work in this sector.” “Rather, the government should have selected sectors based on the nature of their work, and gradually closed those sectors that need to be closed. ![]() “Additionally, the full closure that took place in March wasn’t, in my opinion, the right thing to do, as immediately after it was lifted, people went back to normal life as if there wasn’t a pandemic,” Abu Sneineh elaborated. Tayseer Abu Sneineh, the mayor of the West Bank city of Hebron, which is considered the economic capital of the PA, explained to The Media Line that the main reason for the rise in COVID-19 cases was the sudden return of people to normal life, including gatherings at weddings and other social events, without observing precautionary measures mandated by the government, and without oversight or accountability by the responsible authorities. ![]() On June 20, the Palestinian Authority announced the closure of two other cities: Hebron for five days, and Nablus for 48 hours, for the same reasons. Citizens need to understand and realize the danger of the virus there’s a huge responsibility on them as well,” Salman said. “On June 19 we had 27 new cases infected with the coronavirus we have had about 90 cases in Bethlehem alone since the start of the second wave. He added that whether the 48-hour closure would be extended would depend entirely on how the virus spread during the lockdown. “All tourist facilities are closed and were affected negatively since the start of the crisis the economy of Bethlehem is different in its leading elements and components, as it isn’t linked to the domestic economy, but rather to the world economy.” Salman said that Bethlehem’s economy had already been essentially closed, given that it relied on tourism that had completely stopped since the beginning of the global pandemic. He pointed out that public markets had been open and sick people had mixed with other citizens, also contributing to the jump in the number of cases. “The other aspect of the dangerous situation has to do with the large gatherings by citizens, in particular at weddings, where most cases came from people mixing in social events, and not from abroad,” Salman said. Mayor Anton Salman told The Media Line that the current situation was not unexpected he blamed it in large part on the free movement of Palestinian workers from Israel, who then spread the virus to their cities and villages. It was the second time that the PA has ordered the closure of the city, which witnessed the first cases in the Palestinian territories on March 5. The city of Bethlehem instituted a 48-hour lockdown, starting at 6 am on Monday, to contain the virus. Decision-makers say the current “second wave” of infections is mainly the result of citizens’ noncompliance with safety measures set out by the respective health ministries. More than 24,000 people have been diagnosed with COVID-19 in Israel, while on the Palestinian side, there have been more than 2,000 cases. ![]() Experts tie ‘second wave’ to lack of commitment, awareness among citizens eager to get back to normal lifeĪs the novel coronavirus continues to spread, the Israeli government and the Palestinian Authority are urgently exploring ways to control a marked rise in infections before things get out of control.
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