The Palestinian Authority has amended its plans to continue a planned two-week lockdown after an outcry by business owners hurt by the coronavirus pandemic.
Small businesses will be allowed to open in addition to supermarkets and pharmacies, as long as they abide by social distancing guidelines, Palestinian Authority government spokesperson Ibrahim Milhim says. Weddings and funerals remain banned, and coffee shops will remain closed.
On Sunday, the PA announced that it would extend the coronavirus lockdown in the West Bank for an additional 19 days. The response was immediate: dozens of merchants in Hebron and Ramallah gathered last night to demonstrate against the continued closure of their shops.
A widely circulated video on Palestinian social media purportedly showed a small business owner at one of the gatherings in Ramallah today on the verge of tears as he opened his wallet to show all he had was NIS 20.
“We want to live,” he told journalists at the scene.
— Aaron Boxerman
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