Pandemic Lays Bare Israel’s Systemic Racism
As I sit in my house in Haifa, quarantined, like others around the world, I cannot help but recall a previous experience under Israeli-imposed curfew.
Eighteen years ago, during March and April of 2002, the Israeli army re-invaded the West Bank, including the city in which I was residing at the time, Ramallah. For months, we remained under lockdown as Israeli tanks, jeeps and soldiers terrorized our streets and homes.
We spent the days hearing about the rising death toll and worried about what the future would hold. While the initial action was met with international condemnation, soon the lockdown – and the terror of Israel’s army – became “normal.” Few raised their voices at Israel’s collective punishment of Palestinians and all of the accompanying land confiscations and home demolitions undertaken by the army.