Prime Minister Muhammad Shtayyeh said that the real gap in the Palestinian battle against the spread of the Coruna virus is the occupation, its settlements, its barriers, and all its measures that try to thwart our efforts to protect our people and stop the spread of the epidemic.
This came in a statement to the Prime Minister, today, Wednesday, after it was recorded that 15 Palestinians were infected with the Corona virus, and they were working in one of the factories of the settlement "Atarot", which is located on the lands of north Jerusalem.
The Prime Minister added that "the continued movement of workers, with Israeli facilities, between their cities, villages and workplaces, whether inside the Green Line or in the settlements, is a blow to all our efforts that we have taken early to stop the spread of the disease."
He said: "We see the continued permitting of workers to go to their workplaces in an attempt to protect the Israeli economy at the expense of the workers´ lives, but the economy of Israel is not more precious than the lives of our children."
He continued: "From the first day we worked with high professionalism and rapid procedures to stop the outbreak, as we first managed to completely control the outbreak in Bethlehem, and we also succeeded in controlling the potential for outbreaks through arrivals from travel through close coordination with Jordan and Egypt, closing bridges and examining the arrivals´ stone, This made us keep the pace of injuries low. "
Shtayyeh stressed that "the credit for our control over the situation so far is due to the harmony between leadership decisions and popular response, and the dedication of the cadres and employees of the Palestinian state."
He pointed out that there is an international Palestinian coordination with all parties in this context, through the World Health Organization, which is following up with the Ministry of Health on the daily affairs, which in turn praised the preventive measures of the State of Palestine.
Shtayyeh denounced the Israeli talk about an Israeli medical annexation of the West Bank, saying: "We do not accept Israeli guardianship over our procedures, and Israel is required to leave us alone."
