Israel giving 5,000 doses of Covid vaccine to Palestinians is insufficient: HRW

Israel’s decision to give 5,000 doses of coronavirus vaccine to Palestinian health workers has been criticized by Palestinians and rights groups for being inadequate and failing to meet its obligations.

“Israel’s supply of 5,000 vaccine doses to Palestinian health workers pales in comparison to the nearly 5 million doses it has already provided to Israeli citizens,” Omar Shakir, the director of Israel and Palestine for Human Rights Watch, told CNBC. of the announcement. The Palestinian territories are home to just over 5 million people.

The office of the Israeli Minister of Defense, Benny Gantz, announced that the transfer was approved on Sunday, which was the first step since the country of 9 million received the middle of the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine in early December. Israel has since used the fastest vaccination campaign in the world in terms of shots per person, saying that more than a quarter of its population has had at least their first dose since December 19th.

The Palestinian Authority did not comment on the news. But until the latest announcement, no vaccines have reached Palestinians except those living in East Jerusalem or working in Palestinian hospitals there.

For rights organizations and Palestinian advocacy groups, it was a breach of duty by Israel, which is classified by the UN as an occupying state over the Palestinian territories.

“Israel retains the dominant control over land, over the population register, over the movement of people and goods, over the airspace. So, according to international law, that kind of control comes with it, obligations towards an occupied population,” Shakir said. .

“Israel’s duties under international law after more than 50 years of occupation, without any point of view, are much more than just offering vaccines if it has the capacity,” he added, “but rather to Palestinians in the occupied territories. giving fair access to the vaccine with what it offers its own citizens. ‘

Hussein Ibish, a Palestinian expert on the Middle East and a scholar of the Arabian Gulf states in Washington, describes Israel’s move as a sad acknowledgment of their obvious responsibility to the Palestinians living under their rule. ‘

But he believes it is also “evidence of the brutal ethnic discrimination that Israel practices on the West Bank, where Israeli settlers are quickly vaccinated, while the Palestinians living next to them are largely on their own.”

The Israeli health and foreign affairs authorities did not respond to CNBC’s requests for comment in response to the specific statements, but previously stressed that Israel’s coordinator of government activities in the territories worked with the Palestinian Authority to provide ventilators. transfer test kits and other medical equipment. “donated by the international community.”

There was also joint training of some Israeli-Palestinian medical teams, COGAT told CNBC.

But Israeli officials claim that the ultimate responsibility for health services and vaccine procurement falls on the Palestinian Authority, which is preferred by Palestinians to rule the West Bank.

Shakir at Human Rights Watch disputes this. “The fact that Palestinians also have responsibilities does not negate the role of Israel. Ultimately, as occupying forces, they are responsible for the provision, for the well-being of the occupied population,” he said.

Nouar Qutob, an assistant professor and Covid-19 data researcher at the Arab American University in the West Bank city of Ramallah, is concerned about the situation.

“Things are worrying. We do have cases, cases we do not know about, the hospitals are already full of patients. And the British variant is now in Palestine,” Qutob told CNBC, referring to a new strain of the coronavirus which was first identified. found in the UK and 70% more transmissible.

As a resident of East Jerusalem, Qutob has Israeli right of abode and was able to obtain the Pfizer vaccine. She commutes from her home to Ramallah for work, where there is a private Covid-19 testing center, but she said the number of people being tested has dropped.

“People avoid tests because they do not have to miss work,” she said.

The new virus variant currently in use in the Palestinian territories is “truly worrying because it means more cases – and we still do not have the vaccine in the West Bank,” she said. Qutob spoke to CNBC on Sunday before the Israeli announcement, but since the delivery of the 5,000 vaccine doses is intended for Palestinian health workers only, it will not help much to change the infection situation for the general population.

The latest data from the World Health Organization show 178,900 confirmed cases of coronavirus among Palestinians in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza, with more than 2,000 deaths.

The Palestinian Authority expects to receive its first shipments of independent vaccines in March.

Yasser Bouzia, a Palestinian Ministry of Health official, told CNBC that the PA is currently finalizing a bilateral agreement with AstraZeneca for 2 million doses of its vaccine developed in the UK. The company expects to receive another 2 million vaccine doses via COVAX, a global scheme set up to ensure global fair access to vaccines.

“It will cover almost the majority of the population. And after that we will look for other sources to get another 1 million people vaccinated, because we aim to vaccinate almost 5.2 million people,” Bouzia said.

Until then, infections continue to spread, despite government restrictions.

“People apparently do not want to comply with the closures and regulations, they are just suffering from bad economic situations,” Qutob said. “I do not see that people are following the instructions and that the virus is spreading, and that is worrying.”