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

Israel’s decision to administer 5,000 doses of the coronavirus vaccine to top Palestinian health workers is being criticized by Palestinians and rights groups as insufficient and for failing to meet the country’s obligations.

“Israel’s supply of 5,000 doses of vaccine to Palestinian health workers is shrinking compared to the nearly 5 million doses it has already provided to Israeli citizens,” Omar Shakir, director of Israel and Palestine Human, told CNBC Rights Watch. Just over 5 million people live in the Palestinian territories.

Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz’s office announced that the transfer had been approved on Sunday, marking the first move of its kind since the $ 9 million country began receiving shipments of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine to mid-December. Since then, Israel has deployed what has become the fastest vaccination campaign in the world in terms of shots per person and claims that more than a quarter of its population has had at least the first dose of vaccine. since December 19th.

The Palestinian Authority has not commented on the news. But until the last announcement, no vaccine had reached the Palestinians, except for those living in East Jerusalem or working in Palestinian hospitals there.

For Palestinian rights organizations and advocacy groups, this has been a waiver of duty by Israel, which the UN classifies as an occupying state of the Palestinian territories.

“Israel retains the primary control over the land, over the registration of the population, over the movement of people and goods, over the airspace. Therefore, according to international law, this type of control is accompanied, obligations towards a busy population, ”Shakir said.

“Israel’s duties under international law after more than 50 years of aimless occupation far exceed the supply of some vaccines when it has the capacity,” he added, “but to provide Palestinians in the occupied territory with equitable access. to the vaccine on par with what it provides to its own citizens. “

Hussein Ibish, a Palestinian expert on the Middle East and an academic resident at the Arab Gulf Institute of Washington, described Israel’s move as “a suspicious recognition of its obvious responsibility to Palestinians living under its rule.” government “.

But he believes it also “demonstrates Israel’s brutal ethnic discrimination in the West Bank, where Israeli settlers are rapidly vaccinated while Palestinians living next to them are largely alone.”

The Israeli authorities in the Ministry of Health and Foreign Affairs did not respond to CNBC’s requests for comment in response to these specific statements, but have previously stressed that the Israeli coordinator of government activities in the territories had worked with the Palestinian Authority. to transfer fans, 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 argue that the ultimate responsibility for health services and vaccine procurement lies with the Palestinian Authority, which is elected by the Palestinians to govern the West Bank.

Shakir on Human Rights Watch discusses this. “The fact that the Palestinians also have responsibilities does not deny the Israeli role. Ultimately, as occupying powers, they are responsible for the provision, for the well-being of the employed population,” he said.

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

“Things are worrying. We have cases, cases we don’t know about, hospitals are already full of patients. And the UK variant is already in Palestine,” Qutob told CNBC, referring to a new coronavirus strain first identified. time in the UK and is found to be 70% more transmissible.

As a resident of East Jerusalem, Qutob has Israeli residency and was able to receive the Pfizer vaccine. He travels from his home to Ramallah for work, where there is a private Covid-19 testing center, but said the rate of people being tested has decreased.

“People are avoiding testing because they don’t want to lose their jobs,” he said.

The new variant of the virus present in the Palestinian territories is “really worrying because that means more cases, and we don’t have the vaccine in the West Bank yet,” he said. Qutob spoke to CNBC ahead of the Israeli announcement on Sunday, but as the delivery of the 5,000 doses of vaccine is only intended for top Palestinian health workers, it will not do much to change the infection situation for the general population.

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

The Palestinian Authority expects to receive the first shipments of independently purchased vaccines in March.

Yasser Bouzia, a Palestinian Ministry of Health official, told CNBC that the PA is finalizing a bilateral agreement with AstraZeneca for two million doses of its vaccine developed in the UK. It expects to receive another 2 million doses of vaccine through COVAX, a global scheme that was established to ensure equitable access to vaccines worldwide.

“This will cover almost the majority of the population. And after that, we will look for other sources to have nearly a million people vaccinated, as we intend to vaccinate about 5.2 million people,” Bouzia said.

Until then, infections are still spreading, despite government-imposed restrictions.

“It seems like people don’t want to comply with closures and regulations, they just suffer from bad economic situations,” Qutob said. “I don’t see people complying with the regulations and the virus is spreading and it’s worrying.”