How coronavirus outbreak has boosted Palestinian-Israeli cooperation
While Palestinian-Israeli cooperation has been revved up to the highest level for some time due to the coronavirus outbreak, some problems persist.
The coronavirus outbreak has done what local and international politicians and activists have been unable to do. It has sparked an extraordinarily high level of cooperation and coordination between Palestinians and Israelis.
Ahmed Deek, a senior Foreign Ministry official in the Palestinian goverment, told Al-Monitor that the cooperation at the present time is “necessary and important as it serves a humanitarian [purpose] because [the outbreak] is a danger to all.”
Hussein al-Sheikh, the key Palestinian official in charge of coordination with Israel, told Al-Monitor that the relationship has improved a lot. Sheikh, who is the civil affairs minister in the government of Mohammad Shtayyeh, said a call by Israeli President Reuvlin Rivlin to his Palestinian counterpart Mahmoud Abbas was an important sign of this cooperation. “President Rivlin initiated the call to President Abbas to thank him for the high level of cooperation and coordination,” Sheikh said.
Anees Sweidan, director of the Arab Affairs Department in the PLO, told Al-Monitor that while the focus of the cooperation is on the health crisis, there are many other areas that overlap. “There is the issue of Palestinian workers in Israel, the Palestinian funds still held up by the Israelis, the need to end the security incursions into the Palestinians areas and to have older prisoners released.”
