The announcement by Abbas makes it harder for some West Bankers to travel to Israel for work and medical care.
AL-RAM, WEST BANK — Nassar Salem, a carpenter in this Palestinian suburb of Jerusalem, handed over the form that would normally be enough to get a permit for his pregnant daughter-in-law to visit a hospital on the other side of the Israeli military checkpoint.
Some permits could still be obtained if applicants directly visited the Israeli civil administration office in the West Bank, people were told. Others, including for emergency transport by ambulance, would be impossible without the involvement of Palestinian officials. The suspension of cooperation, designed to pressure Israel and galvanize international opposition to its annexation plans, could further squeeze Palestinians already suffering the economic effects of the coronavirus shutdown. As the public health lockdown begins to lift, unemployment in the West Bank has soared to 35 percent according to some estimates. More than 300,000 workers have lost their wages, many of them dependent on jobs in construction and health care in Israel.
Israel, for its part, relies heavily on more than 120,000 Palestinian workers who, before the coronavirus lockdown, crossed the checkpoints for jobs across the Israeli economy. Sixty percent of them work in construction. No immediate disruption is anticipated because most permits are valid for months.
Salem, whose daughter-in-law has a June appointment at an East Jerusalem hospital for complications with her pregnancy, said he would seek permission directly from Israeli authorities. He doubted that ending cooperation would deter Israel’s annexation plans. Abbas has threatened to cut ties with Israel before, only to backtrack, which caused some skepticism that he was in earnest this time. In the days since his announcement, Palestinians looked for evidence that coordination had been indeed been suspended, sharing notes on social media.
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