A18 ez re THE WASHINGTON POST.THURSDAy, MARCH 19 , 2020
the coronavirus outbreak
BY RUTH EGLASHE fforts to revive Israel’s parlia-
ment after a year of political
limbo stumbled Wednesday as
opposition leaders and members
of the ruling Likud party clashed
over how to move forward, espe-
cially under the shadow of the
coronavirus crisis.
Benny Gantz, head of the Blue
and White party, who has been
given the first chance to assem-
ble a governing majority, tweeted
that the country’s democracy was
under threat.
Israeli President Reuven Riv-
lin also intervened, urging the
parliament’s speaker, Yuli Edel-
stein, not to let the coronavirus
crisis “harm our democratic sys-
tem,” after Edelstein effectively
blocked a vote to name a new
speaker and prevented the cre-
ation of crucial oversight com-
mittees.
Two weeks ago, Israel held its
third national election in less
than a year after two previous
rounds of voting produced a
stalemate between Prime Minis-
ter Benjamin Netanyahu and
Gantz. The March 2 vote gaveLikud more seats in Israel’s 120-
seat parliament, the Knesset, but
the number of lawmakers deter-
mined to oust Netanyahu repre-
sented a slight majority.
With Israel now on emergency
footing to combat the spread of
the virus, the most likely scenar-
io, observers say, is for Blue and
White to form a unity govern-
ment with Likud. But Gantz and
his party say they will not join a
government led by Netanyahu,
who is now under indictment on
corruption charges, and Netan-
yahu refuses to step aside.
On Monday, after the Knesset
was formally inaugurated, Blue
and White submitted legislation
aimed at wresting power from
Netanyahu and petitioned to
hold a vote that would replace
the Likud-appointed Edelstein, a
move that would give Gantz’s
party greater control over the
parliament’s agenda.
But Edelstein, who has held
that position since 2013, called
Blue and White’s attempts to
replace him “petty politics” and
said it was not the time to
advance controversial legisla-
tion, when the two sides shouldbe coming together to manage
the emergency situation.
He took what appeared to be
further steps Wednesday to block
Blue and White, halting proceed-
ings aimed at establishing four
key parliamentary committees,
including one t hat would oversee
the government’s management
of the coronavirus situation. Op-
position parties have called for
the committees to be composed
of the traditional number of 17
members each, which would give
Gantz’s bloc greater power in the
parliament.
Likud has said that in light of
coronavirus restrictions that bar
no more than 10 people gather-
ing i n a closed space, the commit-
tees should have fewer members,
splitting the committee members
equally between the pro-Netan-
yahu bloc and the anti-Netanya-
hu bloc, undermining Blue and
White’s power.
“It is all political m aneuvering,
but the end result is a slowdown
in the process of transition of
power in the Knesset,” said Yuval
Shany, vice president of the Israel
Democracy Institute.
[email protected]Revival of Israeli parliament falters
BY MIRIAM BERGER
AND SIOBHÁN O’GRADYGayle Guynup, 68, is one of
hundreds of U.S. citizens stuck in
Morocco, on a vacation they can’t
find a way to end.
It’s become an all-too-familiar
story with international borders
closing as governments respond
to the coronavirus pandemic,
leaving people stranded.
Guynup, of Santa Rosa, Calif.,
said her vacation deteriorated
fa st. She checked the news Satur-
day night to see reports that Mo-
rocco was suspending all interna-
tional flights. By Monday, she was
part of a frantic crowd at the
airport trying to rebook a seat out
to no avail. That s ame day, Moroc-
co, which hosts around 12 million
tourists yearly, ordered hotels,
restaurants and entertainment
centers to close. The country has
37 coronavirus cases and one re-
lated death.
Guynup said she feels aban-
doned by her government.
“Egypt, Turkey, France and
Great Britain have already taken
actions on getting flights for their
nationals out,” s he told The Wash-
ington Post. “A nd our embassy [in
Morocco] has not reached out to
any of us.”
She added: “It’s just a certain
amount of anxiety as the days go
by. The information we are given,
the rumors we hear from the tour
guides and the people that we
meet... we still don’t hear any-
thing from o ur government, so we
don’t know how long this will go
on.”
A State Department official told
The Post o n Tuesday that the agen-
cy is aware some countries have
imposed new flight suspensions,
and that it’s “considering all op-
tions to assist U.S. c itizens in these
countries and [is] continuously
assessing travel conditions in all
areas affected by covid-19,” the
disease c aused by the c oronavirus.
On Tuesday, the Twitter ac-
count of the U.S. Embassy in Ra-
bat urged U.S. citizens to try to
book a seat on one of 50 commer-
cial flights the British Embassy in
Morocco was organizing to Lon-
don until Thursday.
The U.S. Embassy’s website,
la st updated M onday, urged “U.S.
citizens who fall within identified
high risk categories for COVID-
to contact the Consulate General’s
American Citizen Services.”
People over age 60 and those
with preexisting health condi-
tions are at a higher risk of a
severe, and even deadly, reaction
to the coronavirus, according to
medical experts.
Guynup estimated that among
the Americans stranded at her
hotel in Casablanca, nearly all are
older than 6 0.
“I think a 60-year-old would
look like a teenager in this group,”
she said of those who, like her,
booked the trip through Gate 1
Travel.
Rhonda Klein, 62, a U.S. citizen
who is part of a group of 12 Ameri-
cans stranded in Marrakesh, said
she and at least one other person
she was with had a preexisting
health condition and require
medication they couldn’t easily
acquire in Morocco.
“The State Department has not
been of any help,” Klein, a lawyer
from Atlanta, said Tuesday. “Not
only can no one tell us anything
but what we do get told i s conflict-
ing information.”
She finally caught a flight out toBrussels on Wednesday.
Nine Democratic members of
the Senate Foreign Relations
Committee sent a letter to Secre-
tary of State Mike Pompeo on
Wednesday urging that “A meri-
cans overseas should have full
confidence that the State Depart-
ment will support them when
abroad and facilitate their efforts
to return to the United States if
they are seeking to evacuate.”
Guynup is at the Novotel in
Casablanca, which initially closed
at the government’s order but
then reopened t o house stranded
tourists such as her. She’s grateful
for the kindness Moroccans have
shown her.
But she has heard reports that
some other hotels are kicking
tourists out amid pressure from
the government.
On Tuesday, she and at least 80
other U.S. citizens walked togeth-
er to the nearby U.S. Consulate to
ask for a meeting, which they were
denied, s he said.
“What I think is despicable is
that our hotel is only four blocks
from the U.S. Consulate,” she said.
“They could schedule a meeting
with o ur group.”
The State Department did not
immediately respond to a ques-
tion a bout the incident.
I n the meantime, the stranded
Americans have set up a Facebook
group, put together a spreadsheet
with the names of more than 200
U.S. citizens in Casablanca, and
are calling members of Congress
and anyone else they hope can
help.
In February, the United States
evacuated hundreds of U.S. citi-
zens and residents from Wuhan,
China, then the epicenter of the
coronavirus epidemic. S ome e vac-
uees described the journey as dis-
organized and frustrating.
U.S. citizens in Morocco are
hoping the government will orga-
nize similar flights for them. A
State Department official did not
respond to a question about
whether the government planned
to send repatriation flights.
Complicating the situation,
however, is t hat in r ecent days, the
United States has put in place
bans o n travelers from Europe, on
top of previous bans on those
coming from China and Iran. The
recent restrictions left U.S. citi-
zens in a desperate dash to return
home on the few remaining out-
bound planes. Subsequent crowds
arriving in U.S. airports have been
packed together at customs,
forced to violate the official direc-
tive t o maintain a safe d istance.
John Stanley, 68, a retired judge
from New York City was supposed
to fly home from Morocco on
Tuesday. But when Royal Air Ma-
roc canceled his direct flight to
New York, he found himself
stranded in Casablanca. Without
a valid boarding pass, he wasn’t
able to enter the airport to try to
buy a new ticket, and had trou-
bling booking one online as well.
France was able to organize
special flights out Sunday and
Monday, and some outbound Air
France f lights still remain.
Wednesday afternoon in Mo-
rocco, Stanley received good
news: He was able to book a flight
on Air France to New York City via
Paris for March 28.
He said he knows of many U.S.
citizens, s everal with medical con-
ditions, still waiting for word if
and when t hey’ll get a flight out.
[email protected]
[email protected]Americans i n Morocco
plead for help to leave
the other half in the United
States — the closure will mean
that people cannot grab a pizza
in Canada and bring it home to
Vermont, and that family mem-
bers will be unable to pop across
the border and say hello. For
residents there, Canada is the
same street: Main Street in Der-
by Line turns into Main Street in
Stanstead, Quebec.
Ed Jenness, 70, lives a half-
mile from the Canadian border
in Derby Line. His wife’s family
lives just across the border, and
the couple enjoys going out to
dinner in Sherbrooke, Quebec,
about an h our a way. S ome people
go to church in Canada, he said,
and won’t be able to do so
Sunday.
“There will be a trickle-down,
and we will feel it. Our economy
will go to hell,” he said. “And up
here in northern Vermont, we
don’t have much of an economy.”
In Blaine, Wash., which abuts
White Rock, British Columbia,
public officials and business
owners braced for the i mpending
restrictions at the Peace Arch,
the third-busiest U. S.-Canada
border crossing.
Blaine has a thriving cottage
industry of mailbox stores for
Canadians who take advantage
of cheaper U. S. prices on e-com-
merce goods. Customers have
already stopped coming, said
one employee.
There is also a concern that
critical business could get
stopped at the border there.
Health-care workers cross the
border each day, and contractors
who service medical equipment,
including ventilators, work in
both countries, said Matt Morri-
son, CEO of the Pacific North-
West Economic Region, which in
2010 prepared p lans for a biohaz-
ard event that flagged a more
restrictive border-crossing as a
potential hurdle for the region to
manage a pandemic.
“I’m very concerned about any
border guards’ ability to assess
essential or critical personnel or
services,” he said.
[email protected]
[email protected]Greg scruggs in seattle contributed
to this report.BY KATIE ZEZIMA
AND RICK NOACKThe United States and Canada
agreed to close their 5,500-mile
border to nonessential traffic
Wednesday, a drastic measure
that officials hope will help
stanch the spread of the novel
coronavirus in both countries.
President Trump and Canadi-
an Prime Minister Justin
Trudeau decided to close the
border Wednesday morning,
Trudeau said at a news confer-
ence. People will no longer be
able to travel between the two
countries for recreation and
to urism, Trudeau said. It was not
clear when the border would
reopen.
“In both our countries we’re
encouraging people to stay
home,” Trudeau said. “We’re tell-
ing citizens not to visit their
neighbors unless they absolutely
have to. Well, this collaborative
and reciprocal measure is an
extension of that prudent ap-
proach.”
Trudeau spoke after Trump
tweeted the plan earlier Wednes-
day.
Trudeau and Vice President
Pence said essential travel, in-
cluding for employees who live
on one side of the border and
work on the other, will continue.
Trade and trucking will not be
affected.
Pence said at a White House
news conference that the closure
was decided after “mutual dis-
cussion” between the two gov-
ernments. The Department of
Homeland Security will ensure
that it remains closed to nones-
sential traffic, Pence said, while
ensuring critical personnel and
goods still enter the United
States.
In 2018, goods and services
trade amounted to an estimated
$718.5 billion, according to U.S.
figures.
“Our governments recognize
that it is critical that we preserve
supply chains between both
co untries,” Trudeau said, to “en-
sure food, fuel and lifesaving
medicines” are able to move
between the United States and
Canada.
Trudeau also announced a
$27 billion program to directly
support Canadian families and
businesses affected by the virus,
and an additional $55 billion in
aid through tax deferrals.
Trudeau spoke in Ottawa,
where he is working in isolation
as his w ife, S ophie, recovers from
covid-19, the disease caused by
the virus.
Canada has confirmed around
650 cases of the coronavirus,
according to a count kept by
Johns Hopkins University. At
least eight people have died. The
United States has confirmed
more t han 7,000 cases, with cases
in all 50 states and the District of
Columbia. More than 110 peoplehave died.
Trudeau announced the clo-
sure of Canada’s borders to most
travelers Monday, but exempted
U. S. citizens, Canadian citizens
and permanent residents.
The closure will have a major
impact on one of the world’s
busiest border crossings, where
people travel back a nd forth e ach
day for work, to see family, or to
shop or dine.
U. S. residents spend billions i n
Canada every year, and every
month millions of vehicles tra-
verse the border.
The Detroit-Windsor Tunnel,
which 4.2 million vehicles used
in 2019 to shuttle between down-
town Detroit and Windsor, On-
tario, will close to nonessential
traffic. Many health-care work-
ers in Detroit live in Canada.
In Derby Line, Vt., where the
Haskell Free Library and Opera
House sits on top of the border —
half of the building is in Canada,U.S.-Canada border closes to ‘nonessential’ tra∞c
ryAN remIorz/AssoCIAted Press
The border crossing between Lacolle, Quebec, and New York state is closed Wednesday, as President
Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau agreed to close the border to most traffic.Officials say trade,
trucking not affected by
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