If Israel finds a vaccine for
coronavirus,
boycotters can still take it, Omar Barghouti, founder of the
anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement said on
Sunday.
Barghouti made the remarks in a live video on the BDS Arabic Facebook page as part of a webinar on “
BDS and Anti-normalization: The most important strategies to fight against the deal of the century, even in the time of COVID-19.”
The
BDS founder warned that coronavirus cannot be a “honeymoon” for Israel
and questioned why the Palestinian Authority hasn’t stopped security
cooperation with Israel.
At the same time, he said “if you use
medical equipment from Israel – it’s not a problem. Cooperating with
Israel against the virus – to begin with, we didn’t consider it
normalization.
“The BDS announced normalization criteria long
ago,” Barghouti said. “If Israel finds a cure for cancer, for example,
or any other virus, then there is no problem in cooperating with Israel
to save millions of lives.”
However, Barghouti added, “up until
now, we have not been in a situation where we need Israel urgently and
no one else can save us but Israel. If that will happen, saving lives is
more important than anything else.”
The Facebook post inviting
BDS supporters to take part in the webinar anticipated a "humanitarian
disaster" in Gaza or among Palestinians in Israeli prisons due to hte
spread of the coronavirus. The BDS Movement also accused Israel of
"continuing to exploit Palestinian workers...without the simplest
protection against the virus" and of "looting of land, arrests,
oppression and killing" during the pandemic, while condemning continued
normalization in "the Arab official system."
The UN, however, has
repeatedly commended Israel and the Palestinian Authority for working
together in combatting coronavirus, with its Office for the Coordination
of Humanitarian Affairs saying there has been "unprecedented
cooperation on efforts aimed at containing the epidemic."
Among
those efforts have been regular meetings between the sides and Israeli
training programs for Palestinian medical teams, as well as donations of
PPEs to Palestinians.
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