In this article, Jardar Alai explains the lack of distribution of the Covid vaccine for Palestinians.
Photo Credit: Al Jazeera
On 14 January, Israeli government reported, that, they have vaccinated over 2 million of their citizens, which is approximately 20% of their population. That is amazing how a country under one month has vaccinated 2 million people. The Israeli government has made plans to vaccinate everyone at end of march but it excludes the Palestinians who are living in Gaza and the west bank.
The area of the West bank is under Israeli military occupation, but the Palestinians have some form of autonomy. At the same time many Israelis are settling into west bank. Many see this settling into Palestinian territory to ethnically cleanse this land. The Israeli government is providing housing for these settlers and they have made life hard for the Palestinians.
When the Covid-19 vaccines were ready, Israel bought many vaccines to start vaccination. The Israeli government has said that they are not going to vaccinate anybody in Gaza and the West Bank and if the Palestinians want to start vaccination, they have to do it themselves. At the same time, they have vaccinated Israelis that have settled in the west bank.
In the 4 Genève convention it has been written that occupying power, to ensure the medical supplies of the occupied population including adoption and application of the prophylactic and preventative measures necessary to combat the spread of contagious diseases and epidemics.
The UN has forced Israel to help the Palestinian authority with their vaccination program. Israel has agreed to give the Palestinian authority 100 dozes of the Covid-19 vaccine but the Palestinians have denied receiving any. The action of the Israeli government to denying access to the vaccine to the Palestinians is childish. The government is putting oil on the fire and it does not look pretty.
Sources:
1.Human rights group Israel: Provide Vaccines to Occupied Palestinians
Over 4.5 Million in West Bank, Gaza Excluded From Vaccination Push
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