Written by: Daniel Xie

With the outbreak of the coronavirus there has been a greater call for international cooperation. However, this call has not been accompanied by the removal of sanctions and punitive actions that could harm the ability of other countries to effectively fight the virus; particularly countries singled out by the United States as potential threats to its geopolitical interests such as Iran and Venezuela.

These calls have thus far been ignored by the United States, as they continue to maintain sanctions on Iran, while preventing Cuba from receiving any medical aid. The IMF also refused to provide any aid to Venezuela when it sought funding to fight COVID-19. This chain of events show that even in a time of national crisis, the US drive to maintain hegemonic dominance continues.

The United States is not the only nation to choose imperialistic goals over co-option to fight the COVID-19 outbreak, despite their potential enemies. Israeli apartheid and settler colonialism in Palestine continues even during the COVID-19 outbreak. This is manifested through the deprivation of any medical aid to Palestine that could fight the COVID-19 outbreak, along with the expulsion of Palestinian labourers suspected of contacting the coronavirus out of Israel.

In response to the outbreak of the coronavirus in Palestine, which began on March 7 with 7 cases in the West Bank, Gaza’s Health Ministry issued an urgent appeal to the World Health Organization for critical medical equipment, including ventilators and intensive care equipment, warning of a “massive disaster”. According to the Health Ministry, Gaza is in need of 150 ventilators to care for its population, with their current 65 ventilators being not only inadequate, but also in poor condition.

In the meantime, Hamas is building containment facilities to try and contain the virus in the wake of two cases manifesting in Gaza. Already, Physicians for Human Rights Israel (PHRI) has called on the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) and the Ministry of Health to provide Gaza equipment needed to combat COVID-19, including basic antiseptics, intensive care beds, and ventilators.

In response to calls for aid provided to Palestine in times of Crisis by PHRI, Israel instead attempted to continue it’s colonization of Gaza and the West bank even during a time of global pandemic. According to Mondoweiss, Palestinian field clinics in the West Bank have been confiscated on March 26 by officials from Israel’s Civil Administration, whom arrived with a bulldozer and military vechicles at the Palestinian community of Khirbet Ibziq in the northern Jordan Valley. They confiscated poles and sheeting that were supposed to be used to construct field clinics and makeshift tents. These tents were meant to provide both a place to treat suspected coronavirus patients as well as a temporary shelter for those evicted from their homes, presumably because their homes were in the way of Israeli settlements waiting to be constructed.

Mondoweiss further reports that this incident was not an isolated case, but as part of ongoing colonialism in Palestine that has gone on through March, with the coronavirus being exploited as justification for continued settler colonialist policies. Citing a report from Mar. 27 by IMEMCnews, Mondoweiss notes that Israeli forces, on March 26, demolished a farming shed and a water well in Deir Ballut town, west of Salfit. According to the Governor of Salfit, Abdallah Kmeil, Israeli forces escorted a bulldozer into the Wadi Sarida area to tear down the farming shed and water well.

Kmeil claims that Israel may be exploiting the lockdown enforced on the occupied territories as a result of the Coronavirus in order to escalate the annexation of the Palestinian land. Similar reports of Israel taking advantage of the virus for the purpose of annexation were reported by Middle East Eye, which reported that settlers have carried out violent attacks against Palestinians and the razing of homes in Palestinian territory to make way for roads to be paved in Nablus, Jerusalem and Bethlehem, taking advantage of the fact that the Palestinians cannot defend themselves because of the enforced lockdown.

Palestinian labourers suspected of having the coronavirus are thrown out of Israel. According to Middle East Eye, a Palestinian labourer was filmed by Ibrahim Abu Safiya to be lying on the ground close to an Israeli checkpoint. The man had an extremely high fever and could barely move. When asked what happened, the man told Ibrahim that he believed that he was showing symptoms of the coronavirus and as such, tried to get tested.

Though the test results came out as negative, the man’s Israeli employer reportedly called the authorities, who picked him up and dropped him on the other side of the Beit Sira checkpoint. With regards to the incident, Ibrahim told Middle East Eye reporters that the Israeli government allowing for employers to expel Palestinian labourers on a whim suspected of having the virus and not providing any care for Palestinian labourers working for Israel to allow them to self-isolate or prevent them from getting the virus in the first place, represents the “true face” of a government that “kills them on a daily basis”.

Ultimately, this chain of events involving continued Israeli colonialism in Palestine demonstrates that even in a time of global pandemic, Israel will not work with their neighbours to alleviate the crisis. Instead they will continue to perpetuate ethnic cleansing in Palestine using the coronavirus as a pretext to ramp up apartheid policies and settler colonialism in Gaza and the West Bank. In response to the COVID-19 outbreak in Palestine, the Israeli government has destroyed tents and makeshift clinics that could be used to alleviate the pandemic. In the meantime, Israeli settlers have launched racist attacks on the Palestinians in an effort to seize more land, and Palestinian labourers in Israel face expulsion if they show any signs of having the virus, even if they are found to be clear of COVID-19 in the first place.

As Canadians, we must oppose our government’s complicity in supporting the settler colonialism regime in Israel through pushing for boycott, divestment and sanctions directed against companies and organizations with contacts with the Israeli military and settlements. We must also challenge elected officials in Canada -such as our current government- who would seek a political alliance with the right-wing Israeli government currently perpetuating these injustices, over guaranteeing human rights for all.