Agency
Jerusalem, Jan 19: Israel has been accused of racism by the Palestinian prime minister after excluding four million people living in the West Bank and Gaza from its Covid-19 vaccine drive.
During a press conference at Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion airport last week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged to vaccinate every citizen by the end of March.
Israel’s Arab residents and the Palestinians of east Jerusalem will be included in the country’s vaccination drive. Palestinians living in the West Bank, and those living in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, will not be given a dose.
Officials will however travel into the West Bank to make the vaccine available for Jewish settlers.
Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh, who recently accused Israel of ‘racism’ for its refusal to vaccinate the citizens of the West Bank and Gaza, has not publicly requested vaccines.
Israel, which is leading the vaccine race with one in five people receiving an initial dose, argues that it is not responsible for inoculating citizens in the Palestinian territories.
Israeli Health Minister Yuli Edelstein has previously said Israel will consider helping the territories once it has taken care of its own citizens.
Major human rights groups say Israel, which controls the territories’ borders, is obligated to vaccinate Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza under international law.
With tens of thousands of West Bank Palestinians working in Israel and its West Bank settlements, experts say Israel should share vaccines on ethical and practical grounds.
The Israel Prison Service said yesterday it would include the 4,400 Palestinian inmates currently imprisoned in its jails in its vaccination drive following calls from rights groups, Palestinian officials and Israel’s attorney general.
