- Title: Israel and PA reach out to other countries over coronavirus fight
- Date: 9th March 2020
- Summary: JERUSALEM (MARCH 9, 2020) (REUTERS) ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER BENJAMIN NETANYAHU LOOKING AT SCREEN OF VIDEO CONFERENCE WITH EUROPEAN LEADERS SCREEN OF VIDEO CONFERENCE WITH EUROPEAN LEADERS NETANYAHU AND RELEVANT MINISTERS SITTING BEFORE THE VIDEO CONFERENCE SCREENS WITH EUROPEAN LEADERS (SOUNDBITE) (English) ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER, BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, SAYING: "The third is and of course the exchange of best practices, we each have our own experiences, we see what works, what doesn't working and we can trade with each other. This is the basis of the suggestion that I have and I suggest that we have, that you probably have other ideas, and I look forward to hearing them." NETANYAHU WRITING NOTES DURING CONFERENCE SEVERAL OF SCREENS SHOWING EUROPEAN LEADERS DURING CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (English) ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER, BENJAMIN NETANYAHU SAYING: "We can get very quickly into a position of shutdowns of aircrafts, or constriction of air travel, that is happening as we speak. We've constricted air travel to people who can come and be tested, I know other countries are doing the same, that's going to happen. In order to assure the supply chains, I propose that we have safe hubs, and safe planes for travel. In other words, we can designate airports for us, for all of us in Europe and we say this is a clean airport, we apply consistent efforts, to keep it clean." RAMALLAH, WEST BANK (MARCH 9, 2020) (REUTERS) PALESTINIAN SPOKESMAN IBRAHIM MELHEM GETTING READY TO ADDRESS THE MEDIA PALESTINIAN MAN WEARING FACE MASK (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) SPOKESMAN FOR THE PALESTINIAN GOVERNMENT, IBRAHIM MELHEM SAYING: "The foreign tourists that remained as I had stated are 64 tourists, who will all leave Bethlehem during the coming hours, and thus, there will not be any tourist present in the Palestinian Territories. There are instructions from the Prime minister, on not receiving tourists in the Palestinian Territories." CAMERAMAN WEARING FACE MASK EXTERIOR OF COUNCIL OF MINISTERS AND PALESTINIAN FLAGS (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) SPOKESMAN FOR THE PALESTINIAN GOVERNMENT, IBRAHIM MELHEM SAYING: "As the prime minister had said earlier this morning, we are assessing the possibility of closure with the Jordanian side and the Israeli side if the matters develop God forbid to the closure of the borders, all the precautionary procedures, we will take to protect population." SIGN READING IN ARABIC AND ENGLISH: "COUNSEL OF MINISTERS" EXTERIOR OF COUNCIL OF MINISTERS
- Embargoed: 23rd March 2020 12:52
- Keywords: Coronavirus Israel Palestinians conferences tourists
- Location: JERUSALEM/ RAMALLAH, WEST BANK
- City: JERUSALEM/ RAMALLAH, WEST BANK
- Country: Palestinian Territories
- Topics: Health/Medicine
- Reuters ID: LVA001C4BYC07
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a video conference with European leaders on Monday (March 9) in an effort to coordinate the response to coronavirus and lessen the impact to supply chains.
The conference call, held in Jerusalem at the Israeli Foreign Ministry, included the leaders of Italy, Austria, Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania, Croatia and Cyprus.
Netanyahu proposed the exchange of "best practices" in fighting the outbreak, and create clean and safe hubs, aircrafts and airports to minimise the disruption.
Meanwhile, Palestinian Government Spokesman Ibrahim Melhem said on Monday (March 9) that all tourists in the West Bank would leave in the coming hours.
Speaking to media in Ramallah, Melhem said the Palestinian government was in contact with Jordan and Israel to coordinate the COVID-19 outbreak.
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