“During an April 24 press conference in Ramallah, PA spokesman Ibrahim Melhem stressed the need for residents to perform their Ramadan religious and social rites at home. Although visits to relatives and iftars (breaking of the daily fast) are the norm during Ramadan, he noted that doing so this year threatened to broaden the spread of COVID-19. Melhem stressed that the government is counting on citizen awareness of the relevant restrictions and everyone abiding by them.”

“The coronavirus has proven to be doubly lethal for Palestinians as it has made resistance against the ongoing Nakba extremely difficult. Joseph Massad, Professor of Modern Arab Politics at Columbia University, observes that the Nakba is “not just a past event and an ongoing process in the present, but a calamity that has a decidedly planned future ahead of it.”