OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, Palestine: Palestine is expecting to receive its first Covid-19 vaccine doses in March under a deal with British drug giant AstraZeneca, while Israel has ignored its responsibilities to ensure available vaccines in occupied territory and stockpiled huge supplies of the vaccine.
Israel has already become the world leader in vaccinations per capita, but Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and the besieged Gaza Strip have yet to secure their first supplies.
Yasser Bozyeh, the Palestinian general director of public health, said in addition to reaching an agreement in principle with AstraZeneca, the Palestinian Authority (PA) had also sought supplies from Moderna, Johnson & Johnson and Russia, which has developed the Sputnik V vaccine.
Supplies would also come through a World Health Organization vaccine programme for poor and middle-income countries.
There was no immediate comment from AstraZeneca.
The Palestinian foreign ministry said in a statement Israel had been “ignoring its duties as an occupation power and committing racial discrimination against the Palestinian people, depriving them of their right to healthcare”.
“The search by the Palestinian leadership to secure the vaccines from various sources doesn’t exempt Israel from its responsibilities towards the Palestinian people in providing the vaccines,” it said.
Under interim peace accords with Israel, the PA was granted limited powers of governance in Areas A and B of the West Bank.
The outcomes of the deal, known as the Oslo Accords, have in effect left Israel in complete control of the Palestinian economy, as well as its civil and security matters in more than 60% of the West Bank, designated as Area C.
Despite granting the interim government control over administrative and internal security matters in parts of the West Bank, Israel maintains military control over the entire area.
Hamas governs the Gaza Strip, which has been under a joint Israeli-Egyptian air, land and naval blockade since 2007.
Related story: Israel shuts down Ramon prison due to Covid infections
Israel’s vaccination programme covers the Palestinians with Israeli citizenship and Palestinian residents of occupied East Jerusalem.
On the West Bank, it has given vaccines only to Jewish settlers living in illegal settlements, but not to Palestinians.
Human rights groups including Amnesty International say Israel has a legal obligation to provide vaccines for Palestinians under occupation, while activists on Twitter have slammed the Israeli vaccination drive excluding Palestinians in occupied territories as “apartheid”.
Israel spreading covid to Palestinians under their control through violent raids and military occupation only to not give them the vaccines is apartheid at its finest.
— Remi Kanazi (@Remroum) January 2, 2021
Israeli officials say they could share vaccines with the Palestinians once Israel’s own needs are met.
A World Health Organization (WHO) official said on Sunday the organisation had held “informal discussions” with Israel over-allocating some supplies to the Palestinians to inoculate health workers.
The official, Gerald Rockenschaub, head of the WHO office in the Palestinian territories, said Israel indicated it would explore the option.
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