Between the Palestinian Authority’s Social Policies and Israel’s Occupation Policies: Palestinians during the Corona Pandemic

Abstract

Summary: This study explores the effects of the Corona Virus pandemic on Palestinian society caught between the policies of the PA and colonization in three domains. 1. It reflects on the impacts of PA policies, recent laws and the state of emergency, which have reinforced existing inequalities and disproportionately benefited senior officials. In addition, it considers the resort to quasi -military policies such as quarantine, movement restrictions, bio policies, surveillance and punishment, rather than appropriate health interventions. These are accompanied by a patriarchal discourse that hold individuals responsible for their health status. There is evidence the pandemic also intensifies inequalities in relation to geography, social sectors, access to services and education. 2. It examines the impacts of private and public sector policy on livelihoods, including the increased marginalization and precarity of social groups such as daily-wage workers and small businesses. Central to this context is the controversial fund “Waqfat Izz” which was established by the PA and to which the private sector has so far failed to contribute. In addition, the PA decision to make deductions to public sector salaries and to demonize Palestinian workers working in Zionist settlements in the West Bank and Israel is assessed. 3. It considers the biopolitial policies of the Israeli colonial administration during this pandemic and its policies of marginalization and neglect of Palestinians living in areas under Israeli control such as Jerusalem, Kufor Aqab. Key aspects of these realities are: the spread of Corona Virus among prison detainees; abandoning sick workers at checkpoints, and changing the law to allow workers to stay overnight in Israel to sustain the pace of its economy. It further considers, the colonial administration’s exploitation of the pandemic to implement the recent US plan. The study adopts mixed methods of data collection, including: participatory observation, interviews, legal documentation and statistics.