JORDAN VALLEY, Tuesday, April 14, 2020 (WAFA) – For the 10th time in few weeks, Israeli soldiers today barred Palestinian volunteers from manning a checkpoint in two northern Jordan Valley villages set up to restrict movement in an effort to combat spread of the coronavirus disease, according to a local Palestinian official.
Soldiers took down a Palestinian flag and forced the volunteers to leave the area, said Mutaz Bisharat, who is in charge of the Israeli settlements file in the Tubas governorate.
Fatah secretary general in Tubas, Mahmoud Sawafta, said volunteers from the Palestinian movement headed by President Mahmoud Abbas wanted to help the local councils maintain order in their villages to prevent the spread of the deadly disease when the Israeli soldiers ordered them to leave the area.
Bisharat said this is the 10th time the soldiers dismantle the Palestinian checkpoint since the outbreak of the disease in the occupied Palestinian territories more than a month ago.
T.R./M.K.
