2) Generally, the Palestinian Authority can do a better job allocating its resources, uh, you know, to prepare for these sorts of events https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palestinian_Authority_Martyrs_... . Of course, it goes without saying that the terrorist run enclave of Hamas-land in Gaza is another story completely, yet for the purposes of this discussion fall under agreements with the PLO, see point 1.
Yes, this is in the article in question, after the interview of a bunch of Palestinian Middle-East Experts - unclear to me what that title stands for exactly - they also interview a Palestinian Health Ministry official at the very end of the article:
> The Palestinian Authority has not commented on the news. But up until the latest announcement, no vaccines had reached Palestinians except those living in East Jerusalem or working in the Palestinian hospitals there.
> Palestinians expect first large vaccine shipments in March
> The Palestinian Authority expects to receive its first shipments of independently-procured vaccines in March.
> Yasser Bouzia, a Palestinian Health Ministry official, told CNBC that the PA is currently finalizing a bilateral agreement with AstraZeneca for 2 million doses of its U.K.-developed vaccine. It expects to receive another 2 million vaccine doses through COVAX, a global scheme that was established to ensure equitable vaccine access globally.
> “That will cover almost the majority of the population. And after that we will look for other sources to have another almost 1 million people to be vaccinated, because we are aiming to vaccinate almost 5.2 million people,” Bouzia said.
> Until then, infections are still spreading, despite government-imposed restrictions.
The Palestinians in the west bank and Gaza have their own healthcare systems. This was part of the Oslo accords. Plus, any Israeli medic who goes to Gaza is likely to be slaughtered. They wouldn’t trust vaccines coming from Israel anyway. Decades of war and demonization have done their part.
Israel is vaccinating the Palestinian residents of east Jerusalem since they are part of the Israeli medical system.
Needless to say that the Arab citizens of Israel (20% of Israel’s population, many of whom identify as Palestinian) have full access to vaccines.
As a Jew, it makes me feel sick to see my people treat others as subhuman. My expectation is that of generosity, open democracy, freedom of religion, respect for international law, and demilitarization, but apparently US/Israeli geostrategy is having none of that.
As an Israeli I always wonder why people who live in the US or Europe think they have some special insight into Israel/Palestine by merit of being Jewish or Muslim.
Israel is vaccinating Palestinians who are Israeli citizens. It actually runs special promotion campaigns (including the PM visiting Nazareth) because some in Arab population are reluctant to take it.
It does not vaccinate Palestinians in the Palestinian controlled areas as it has no authority to do so. Furthermore, Abbas and the PA leadership make a point of not allowing their citizens access to Israeli healthcare (though they did make sure to get vaccinated themselves).
Some time ago my wife was involved in an effort to provide life saving medical care to a Palestinian child in an Israeli hospital. The hospital waved all costs and the treating surgeon was in daily touch with her. The PA refused to allow the child entrance into Israel to receive that care. This wasn't an isolated case, it's PA policy.
I think it's an unreasonably high standard to expect Israel to vaccinate Palestanians in the occupied territories before Israelis. Going from that stance to saying (all?) Israelis treat Palestinians as subhuman is also a bit of a stretch. Are Americans treating Canadians as subhumans by not allowing Pfizer to ship vaccines from its US factory to Canada? In Judaism "the poor of your city" come first. What other country in the world is giving their bought vaccine allotment first to someone else or promoting anything that looks like worldwide equal distribution where every human on this planet has equal access?
And sure, as a fellow Jew I'd like to believe we're better than everyone else, but hey, we're not. I guess maybe better than some.
The complexity of the Palestinian/Israeli conflict can't be reduced to these simplistic terms. Anyone can take some specific incident or piece of data out of context and make their case around it, and all sides take every opportunity to do so while at the same time refusing to accept any responsibility to how they got to where things stand today.
I do hope that once Israel has finished vaccinating its population it will extend the additional vaccines to the PA and to Gaza, I think it's in their own interest and it's the right thing to do.
I think giving first priority to Israeli citizens when Palestine is under occupation is the definition of second class. There should be some kind of even distribution based on proportion of population. If they don't want the responsibility, they should withdraw barricades and forces from Palestine.
See how well that turned out in Gaza. Regardless of final status outcomes, defended borders will remain. If only the PA did not pay for slay[0] and had enough money to secure vaccines on the open market.
>they should withdraw
barricades and forces from Palestine. The oslo accords, gaza withdrawl. They were attempts to give palestinians autonomy. They were disasters. Israel need to continue occupation purely to ensure their own survival.
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/02/03/israel-giving-5000-vaccine-d...