The Palestinians of Gaza know all about lockdowns. For the past 13 years, some two million of them have endured a closure by Israel more extreme than anything experienced by any almost other society – including even now, as the world hunkers down to try to contain the Covid-19 pandemic.
Nothing moves in or out without Israel’s say-so – until three weeks ago, when the virus smuggled itself into Gaza inside two Palestinians returning from Pakistan. It is known to have spread to more than a dozen people so far, though doctors have no idea of the true extent. Testing equipment ran out days ago.
The Manhattan skyline rises over the Borough of Brooklyn on March 31, 2020 in New York. AFP
A shopper and cashier wear protective equipment at the checkout station at Pat's Farms grocery store in Merrick, New York. AFP
Paramedics push a gurney with a patient to Brooklyn Hospital Centre Emergency Room in the Brooklyn borough of New York. AFP
A New York Police officer stands guard in an almost empty Times Square during the outbreak of the coronavirus disease. Reuters
A mounted police officer rides though a mostly deserted Times Square during the outbreak of the coronavirus disease in the Manhattan. Reuters
A man wears personal protective equipment as he walks on First Avenue, during the coronavirus disease outbreak in New York City. Reuters
A New York City Police officer takes a selfie while in the middle of the street in an almost empty Times Square. Reuters
The US Navy hospital ship carrying 1,000 hospital beds moves past the Statue of Liberty as it arrives in New York. AFP
A medical worker walks out of a coronavirus testing tent at Brooklyn Hospital Centre in New York City. AFP
A worker cleans along the Las Vegas Strip devoid of the usual crowds as casinos and other business are shuttered due to the coronavirus outbreak. AP
Members of the US Army Corps of Engineer Research Development Centre’s Directorate of Public Works construct two temporary hospital room prototypes in Vicksburg. The Vicksburg Post via AP
Carol Talkington helps Terri Bonasso tape a notice on the emergency room door following a vigil at the closing of the Fairmont Regional Medical Centre in Fairmont. Times-West Virginian via AP
A motel sign is lit along a quiet Sunset Boulevard at dusk amid the coronavirus pandemic on March 31, 2020 in Los Angeles. AFP
Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden speaks during a virtual press briefing on March 25, 2020. Bloomberg
Unless Gaza enjoys a miraculous escape, an epidemic is only a matter of time. The consequences hardly bear contemplating.
Countries around the world are wondering what to do with their prison populations, aware that, once it takes hold, Covid-19 is certain to spread rapidly in crowded, enclosed spaces, leaving havoc in its wake.
Gaza is often compared to an open-air prison. But even this analogy is not quite right. This is a prison that the United Nations has warned is on the brink of being “uninhabitable”.
In the prison of Gaza, many inmates are undernourished, and physically and emotionally scarred by a decade of military assaults. They lack essentials such as clean water and electricity after repeated Israeli attacks on basic infrastructure. And the 13-year blockade means there is only rudimentary medical care if they get sick.
Social distancing is impossible in one of the most crowded places on earth. In Jabaliya, one of eight refugee camps in the enclave, there are 115,000 people packed together in little more than a square kilometre. Comparable population density nearby in Israel is typically measured in the hundreds.
Palestinian health workers wearing a protective facemask in the courtyard of a United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) school at Al Shati refugee camp in Gaza City. AFP
Palestinian health workers wearing a protective facemask in the courtyard of a United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) school at Al Shati refugee camp in Gaza City. AFP
A Palestinian health worker wearing a protective facemask checks the body temperature of a child at a UNRWA school at Al Shati refugee camp in Gaza City. AFP
Palestinian health workers wearing a protective facemask in the courtyard of a United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) school at Al Shati refugee camp in Gaza City. AFP
Angham Abu Abed, a Palestinian web developer, works at Gaza Sky Geeks office in Gaza City. Reuters
A Palestinian woman wearing a mask looks out of a car upon her return from abroad at Rafah border crossing in the southern Gaza Strip. Reuters
A Palestinian health worker sprays disinfectant as a precaution against the coronavirus in a gymnasium in Gaza City. AP
A bakery worker wears a facemask during his work at the family bakery as a precaution against the spread of the Covid-19 coronavirus in Gaza City. EPA
A bakery worker wears a facemask during his work at the family bakery as a precaution against the spread of the Covid-19 coronavirus in Gaza City. EPA
A bakery worker wears a facemask during his work at the family bakery as a precaution against the spread of the Covid-19 coronavirus in Gaza City. EPA
A Palestinian barber wears protective a facemasks and hand gloves as a precaution against the spread of the Covid-19 coronavirus. EPA
Palestinian municipality workers and Health Ministry personnel stand at the construction site of a field hospital to house coronavirus patients in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. AFP
Palestinians, wearing protective masks amid fears of the spread of the novel coronavirus, take part in a protest in solidarity with Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails outside the UN High Commissioner's offices in Rafah. AFP
Palestinian volunteers spray disinfectant a street at Al Shati refugee camp in Gaza City. AFP
Palestinian volunteers spray disinfectant a street at Al Shati refugee camp in Gaza City. AFP
Palestinian volunteers spray disinfectant a street at Al Shati refugee camp in Gaza City. AFP
Palestinian volunteers sprays disinfectant a street at Al Shati refugee camp in Gaza City . AFP
Palestinian volunteers sprays disinfectant a street at Al Shati refugee camp in Gaza City . AFP
There are few clinics and hospitals to cope. According to human rights groups, Gaza has approximately 60 ventilators – most of them already in use. Israel has 15 times as many ventilators per head of population.
There is little in the way of protective gear. And medicines are already in short supply or unavailable, even before the virus hits. Gaza’s infant mortality – an important measure of medical and social conditions – is more than seven times higher than Israel’s. Life expectancy is 10 years lower.
Unlike a normal prison, Gaza’s warden – Israel – denies responsibility for the inmates’ welfare. Since it carried out a so-called “disengagement” 15 years ago, dismantling illegal settlements there, Israel has argued – against all evidence – that it is no longer the occupying power.
That should have been proved an obvious lie when Palestinians, choking on their isolation and deprivation, began rallying in protest two years ago at the perimeter fence that acts as a cage locking them in. Demonstrators were greeted with live fire from Israeli snipers.
Around 200 people were killed, and many thousands left with horrific injuries, mostly to their legs. Medical services are still overwhelmed by the need for long-term surgery, amputations and rehabilitation for the disabled protesters.
What is already a crisis barely needs a nudge from the coronavirus to be tipped into a health disaster.
And with most of the population already below the poverty line, after Israel’s blockade destroyed Gaza’s textile, construction and agricultural industries, the economy is no shape to withstand an epidemic either.
Most governments, including Israel’s, maintain a degree of control even in the face of this most unexpected emergency. They could prepare for it, even if many were slow to do so. They can marshall factories to produce ventilators and protective equipment. And they have the resources to rebuild their health services and economies afterwards.
A Palestinian policeman stands guard as a woman, wearing a mask as a precaution against Covid-19. Reuters
If they fail in these tasks, it will be their failure.
But Gaza is entirely dependent on Israel and an international community preoccupied with its own troubles. Even if health authorities can secure ventilators and protective equipment in the current, highly competitive global market, Israel will decide whether to let them in. Equally, it could choose to seize them for its own use, in order to placate growing domestic criticism that it is short of vital equipment.
The blame for Gaza’s plight – now and in the future – lands squarely at Israel’s door.
Israel should be helping Gaza, but it is doing the precise opposite. Last week, Israeli planes sprayed herbicide to destroy the crops of Gaza's farmers – part of a policy to keep clear sight-lines for Israeli military forces.
A Palestinian man wearing a protective mask sorts food aid provided by UNRWA. The US has cut funds to the UN agency. AFP
Moreover, in this time of crisis, Gaza’s food insecurity is about to deepen. For the past year, Israel has been starving both Gaza and the rival Palestinian Authority in the West Bank of the taxes and duties it collects on their behalf and that rightfully belong to the Palestinian people. Many families have no money for food.
The US has aggravated this financial crisis by cutting funds to the United Nations refugee agency, UNRWA, which cares for many of Gaza's families expelled by Israel from their homes decades ago and forcibly crowded into the enclave.
The little influence retained by Hamas relates to the thousands of Palestinian political prisoners held illegally in Israel. Hamas wants them out, aware of the danger the virus poses to them.
It is trying to negotiate a release of prisoners, offering to return the corpses of two soldiers it seized during Israel’s infamous attack on Gaza in 2014 that killed more than 500 Palestinian children.
A young Palestinian uses a bucket to help put out the fire. AFP
The fire struck a bakery near a busy market. AFP
Dozens of people were injured in the blaze. AFP
The fire took hold in the refugee camp of Nuseirat in central Gaza Strip. AFP
Palestinian firefighters work at the scene where the fire broke out. Reuters
Gaza is one of the most densely populated areas on Earth. Reuters
Four children were confirmed to be among the victims. Reuters
If Israel refuses to trade, as seems likely, or denies entry to much-needed medical supplies, Gaza’s only other practical leverage will be to fire missiles into Israel, as Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar has threatened. That is the one time western states can be expected to notice Gaza and voice their condemnation – though not of Israel.
But if plague does overwhelm Gaza, the truth about who is really responsible will be hard to conceal.
Modelling the horrifying conditions in Gaza, Israeli experts warned last year of an epidemic like cholera sweeping the enclave. They predicted hundreds of thousands of Palestinians storming the fence to escape contagion and death.
It is the Israeli army’s nightmare scenario. It admits it has no response other than – as with the fence protests – to gun down those pleading for help.
For decades Israel has pursued a policy of treating Palestinians as less than human. It has minutely controlled their lives while denying any meaningful responsibility for their welfare. That deeply unethical stance could soon face the ultimate test.
Jonathan Cook is a freelance journalist in Nazareth
The utilitarian robe held dear by Arab women is undergoing a change that reveals it as an elegant and graceful garment available in a range of colours and fabrics, while retaining its traditional appeal.
Founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, Hassan al Banna, "accepted the political utility of violence"
Views of key Muslim Brotherhood ideologue, Sayyid Qutb, have “consistently been understood” as permitting “the use of extreme violence in the pursuit of the perfect Islamic society” and “never been institutionally disowned” by the movement.
Muslim Brotherhood at all levels has repeatedly defended Hamas attacks against Israel, including the use of suicide bombers and the killing of civilians.
Laying out the report in the House of Commons, David Cameron told MPs: "The main findings of the review support the conclusion that membership of, association with, or influence by the Muslim Brotherhood should be considered as a possible indicator of extremism."
ATP China Open
G Dimitrov (BUL x3) bt R Bautista Agut (ESP x5)
7-6, 4-6, 6-2
R Nadal (ESP x1) bt J Isner (USA x6)
6-4, 7-6
WTA China Open
S Halep (ROU x2) bt D Kasatkina (RUS)
6-2, 6-1
J Ostapenko (LAT x9) bt S Cirstea (ROU)
6-4, 6-4
ATP Japan Open
D Schwartzman (ARG x8) bt S Johnson (USA)
6-0, 7-5
D Goffin (BEL x4) bt R Gasquet (FRA)
7-5, 6-2
M Cilic (CRO x1) bt R Harrison (USA)
6-2, 6-0
The chief operating officer of Hyperloop Transportation Technologies, Andres de Leon, said his company's hyperloop technology is “ready” and safe.
He said the company prioritised safety throughout its development and, last year, Munich Re, one of the world's largest reinsurance companies, announced it was ready to insure their technology.
“Our levitation, propulsion, and vacuum technology have all been developed [...] over several decades and have been deployed and tested at full scale,” he said in a statement to The National.
“Only once the system has been certified and approved will it move people,” he said.
HyperloopTT has begun designing and engineering processes for its Abu Dhabi projects and hopes to break ground soon.
With no delivery date yet announced, Mr de Leon said timelines had to be considered carefully, as government approval, permits, and regulations could create necessary delays.
Obed Suhail of ServiceMarket, an online home services marketplace, outlines the five types of long-term residential visas:
Investors:
A 10-year residency visa can be obtained by investors who invest Dh10 million, out of which 60 per cent should not be in real estate. It can be a public investment through a deposit or in a business. Those who invest Dh5 million or more in property are eligible for a five-year residency visa. The invested amount should be completely owned by the investors, not loaned, and retained for at least three years.
Entrepreneurs:
A five-year multiple entry visa is available to entrepreneurs with a previous project worth Dh0.5m or those with the approval of an accredited business incubator in the UAE.
Specialists
Expats with specialised talents, including doctors, specialists, scientists, inventors, and creative individuals working in the field of culture and art are eligible for a 10-year visa, given that they have a valid employment contract in one of these fields in the country.
Outstanding students:
A five-year visa will be granted to outstanding students who have a grade of 95 per cent or higher in a secondary school, or those who graduate with a GPA of 3.75 from a university.
Retirees:
Expats who are at least 55 years old can obtain a five-year retirement visa if they invest Dh2m in property, have savings of Dh1m or more, or have a monthly income of at least Dh20,000.
The flights
Emirates and Etihad fly direct to Nairobi, with fares starting from Dh1,695. The resort can be reached from Nairobi via a 35-minute flight from Wilson Airport or Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, or by road, which takes at least three hours.
The rooms
Rooms at Fairmont Mount Kenya range from Dh1,870 per night for a deluxe room to Dh11,000 per night for the William Holden Cottage.
Emirates (www.emirates.com) flies directly to Hanoi, Vietnam, with fares starting from around Dh2,725 return, while Etihad (www.etihad.com) fares cost about Dh2,213 return with a stop. Chuong is 25 kilometres south of Hanoi.
1 Joost Luiten produced a memorable hole in one at the par-three fourth in the first round.
2 To date, the only two players to win the PGA Championship after winning the week before are Rory McIlroy (2014 WGC-Bridgestone Invitational) and Tiger Woods (2007, WGC-Bridgestone Invitational). Hideki Matsuyama or Chris Stroud could have made it three.
3 Number of seasons without a major for McIlroy, who finished in a tie for 22nd.
4 Louis Oosthuizen has now finished second in all four of the game's major championships.
5 In the fifth hole of the final round, McIlroy holed his longest putt of the week - from 16ft 8in - for birdie.
6 For the sixth successive year, play was disrupted by bad weather with a delay of one hour and 43 minutes on Friday.
7 Seven under par (64) was the best round of the week, shot by Matsuyama and Francesco Molinari on Day 2.
8 Number of shots taken by Jason Day on the 18th hole in round three after a risky recovery shot backfired.
9 Jon Rahm's age in months the last time Phil Mickelson missed the cut in the US PGA, in 1995.
10 Jimmy Walker's opening round as defending champion was a 10-over-par 81.
11 The par-four 11th coincidentally ranked as the 11th hardest hole overall with a scoring average of 4.192.
12 Paul Casey was a combined 12 under par for his first round in this year's majors.
13 The average world ranking of the last 13 PGA winners before this week was 25. Kevin Kisner began the week ranked 25th.
14 The world ranking of Justin Thomas before his victory.
15 Of the top 15 players after 54 holes, only Oosthuizen had previously won a major.
16 The par-four 16th marks the start of Quail Hollow's so-called "Green Mile" of finishing holes, some of the toughest in golf.
17 The first round scoring average of the last 17 major champions was 67.2. Kisner and Thorbjorn Olesen shot 67 on day one at Quail Hollow.
18 For the first time in 18 majors, the eventual winner was over par after round one (Thomas shot 73).
What can you do?
Document everything immediately; including dates, times, locations and witnesses
Seek professional advice from a legal expert
You can report an incident to HR or an immediate supervisor
You can use the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation’s dedicated hotline
In criminal cases, you can contact the police for additional support
MIDWAY
Produced: Lionsgate Films, Shanghai Ryui Entertainment, Street Light Entertainment Directed: Roland Emmerich Cast: Ed Skrein, Woody Harrelson, Dennis Quaid, Aaron Eckhart, Luke Evans, Nick Jonas, Mandy Moore, Darren Criss Rating: 3.5/5 stars
