Middle East Experience

Brig. Gen. (res.) Assaf Orion, who was a top intelligence and military diplomacy official, warned that in the coronavirus era, even a “win” in enforcing the law, could be a long-term "loss."
Source: Jerusalem Post
Full Article: Ex-IDF official: Facing mass Palestinian protest may spread coronavirus

As the Israeli government begins to loosen social distancing regulations, gap year programs are now faced with the question: What next?
Source: Jerusalem Post
Full Article: Gap year programs begin adapting to ‘new normal’ of coronavirus

The basis of the coalition agreement is very similar to those which were drafted after the April and September elections.
Source: Jerusalem Post
Full Article: Likud, UTJ coalition deal to freeze status quo on religion and state

Authorities revised timings for the disinfection programme to facilitate people in the country..
Source: Albawaba
Full Article: Dubai’s 24-hour national coronavirus sterilisation programme timings will be revised for Ramadan

Migrants in a Tunis detention center went on a hunger strike to protest bad conditions that aren't improving amid the coronavirus outbreak despite calls by rights organizations that prisoners be released.
Source: Al Monitor
Full Article: Migrants in detention center go on hunger strike in fear of coronavirus

Turkey is reportedly planning to forge a unified militia army in Idlib, but discord among armed groups and the clout of jihadi factions stand out as major stumbling blocks in the way of the new game plan.
Source: Al Monitor
Full Article: Turkey plays extra time in Idlib game with new ‘army’ plan

As the number of coronavirus cases in the kingdom surpasses 7,000, the country's grand mufti suspended group prayers in mosques.
Source: Al Monitor
Full Article: Saudi Arabia’s grand mufti says Ramadan prayers to be held at home

The Donald Trump administration’s new COVID-19 aid for Palestinians and Yemenis represents a tiny portion of the funding Congress actually appropriated to help both peoples.
Source: Al Monitor
Full Article: Trump’s COVID-19 aid for Palestinians, Yemenis falls short of Congress’ directives

Several Gulf states have transformed places like hotels, event centers and parking garages into medical facilities for coronavirus patients. Some are now hospitals for treatment while others were turned into quarantine centers.Read the latest updates in our dedicated coronavirus section.UAE turns Dubai World Trade Centre into hospital for 3,000 patientsAuthorities have converted the Dubai World Trade Centre into a field hospital that can house 3,000 coronavirus patients in a bid to ramp up the country’s capacity to treat people infected with the COVID-19.While Dubai hospitals currently have between 4,000 and 5,000 beds available, authorities are preparing to increase their capacity to up to 10,000 or more beds, according to the Director-General of the Dubai Health Authority Humaid al-Qutami.Across the country, mobile testing centers have been also launched as part of the UAE’s rapidly expanding coronavirus testing program. The country is conducting 32,000 tests at its recently opened drive-thru test centers and has also established a massive testing laboratory.Saudi Arabia quarantines thousands in hotelsSaudi Arabia has quarantined thousands of people in hotels, some in luxury suites, to combat COVID-19, throwing a temporary lifeline to an industry struggling just months after tourist visas were launched.Faced with nearly 4,500 novel coronavirus infections, Saudi Arabia has halted air travel, locked down cities and imposed nationwide curfews in a crisis that has dealt a blow to the nascent tourism sector.Offering a ray of hope, however, the government is splurging millions of dollars to quarantine thousands of overseas travelers and those exposed to infected people in otherwise empty hotels around the kingdom.One four-star hotel in central Riyadh with 100-plus rooms was left with only five guests in mid-March when the Saudi government offered four million riyals ($1.06 million) a month for it to be used as a quarantine facility, an industry source told AFP.Dubai turns five-star hotels into isolation centersDubai authorities have been isolating citizens returning from abroad for 14 days in luxury properties before they are permitted to re-enter society as part of preventive measures to curb the spread of the new coronavirus pandemic.“We try to provide all their demands, whether on the matters of health or education to make it (quarantine) easier for them, like a home that meets all their needs and so they don’t feel that they are in an isolated or restricted place,” said Bushra Rahoumi, commander of Dubai City National Emergency Response Volunteer Program.Bahrian turns car park into ICU for coronavirus patientsBahrain has turned a car park near the capital Manama into an intensive care unit with 130 beds for patients infected with the novel coronavirus, in a first in the Gulf.The new ICU in the covered car park was set up as a precautionary measure in case of a spike in cases of the COVID-19 respiratory disease, officials said.Read more: UAE says it is successfully treating patients with hydroxychloroquineCoronavirus quarantine in Saudi Arabia offers lifeline to struggling hotelsDubai’s five-star hotels turned into isolation centersBahrain turns car park into ICU for coronavirus patients
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: Gulf countries convert event centers, hotels into coronavirus medical facilities

The coronavirus pandemic has shut down nonessential businesses across the United States, with more than 90 percent of Americans under some kind of stay-at-home order, depriving millions of a paycheck.Read the latest updates in our dedicated coronavirus section.People struggling to make ends meet have been lining up by the thousands to pick up free groceries from food banks and charities.A pop-up food pantry in Southern California last week drew so many people that the line of cars waiting for free groceries stretched about a mile (1.6 km), a haunting sign of how the coronavirus pandemic has hurt the working poor.Hundreds of other people, many wearing trash bags to shelter from the rain, arrived at the one-day grocery giveaway on foot, forming a blocks-long queue in Van Nuys, in the central San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles.Organizers said they had enough groceries to hand out to more than 2,500 families, with each receiving a 36-pound (16-kg) box of rice, lentils and other staples as well as frozen chicken, oranges and other foods.Read more: Economic crisis versus coronavirus: What is more deadly?Meanwhile, the US National Guard distributed food packages in Chelsea, the city with the highest coronavirus infection rate in Massachusetts. A major part of its population lives at or below the poverty line, AFP reported. Over a thousand of food packages, which come from local companies, the Salvation Army and donations, are expected to be distributed per day.In New York City, located in the state that has become the United States’ coronavirus outbreak epicenter, people also lined up to pick up bags of food distributed by a charity to help those struggling.New York Governor Andrew Cuomo on Thursday extended his shutdown order in the US coronavirus outbreak epicenter until May 15, citing data showing improved conditions but insisting on the need to maintain vigilance.Read more:Coronavirus: US jobless claims total 22 million in four weeksTrump’s three-phase plan to reopen US economy amid coronavirus: All the details
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: Watch: Thousands affected by coronavirus lockdowns in US line up for free groceries