Massive restrictions on freedoms, paralysis of the economy, unemployment, stockouts of medicines and goods, empty supermarket shelves, anxiety, uncertainty...
We are all experiencing with difficulty this exceptional situation due to the lockdown and urgent need to limit the spread of the pandemic.
After only a few days of lockdown, we are finding the time long and our daily life is becoming unbearable. How long could we tolerate it: six months, a year, two, five, ten years?
Palestinians have been living this situation for decades, especially in the Gaza Strip where the blockade has been wreaking havoc for almost 14 years. Nearly 2 million people are thus stuck in a narrow perimeter, closed on all sides and in which no exit or entry is allowed (with rare exceptions). The economy and all other sectors are in a state of collapse, with catastrophic indicators and no hope of recovery.
In these dramatic and extremely traumatic times, let us not forget to think of those for whom the exception has become the rule, where uncertainty and anxiety are the norm.
Support Palestinians, because under normal circumstances they are already living a nightmare. But in this time of emergency and global paralysis, they are facing tragedy.