Six Israeli and Palestinian human rights groups filed a petition with the Supreme Court on Thursday urging Israel to take action to ensure Palestinian vaccination in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, including by supplying additional products from their own vaccine stores.
“The government’s current policy and failure to ensure that all vaccines violate the fundamental rights of Palestinian residents for life and bodily integrity, and represent a continuing injustice,” the petitioners wrote, according to a statement from the Jerusalem-based rights group Ir Amim.
The petitioner argued that the Palestinian Authority does not have enough vaccines, but in the one area that is largely the population of Israeli citizens and residents is almost entirely vaccinated, except those which rejects it. ”
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The petition was filed by Israeli Human Rights Physicians, HaMoked: Center for the Protection of the People, Al Mezan Center for Human Rights, Gisha – Law Center for Freedom of Movement, Adalah: The Law Center for the Rights of Arab Minorities in Israel, and Rabbis for Human Rights.
It came amid concerns about a spike in coronavirus infections in Palestinian territories, according to the report.
Ir Amim said research has shown that there are 27 deaths per day from COVID-19 in the West Bank and Gaza, where the rate of advanced testing for diseases stands at about 20 percent.
“Palestinian hospitals on the West Bank are overcrowded, and some of them have stopped cancer patients from the Gaza Strip who are in need of emergency and life-saving treatments,” the statement said.
The petition came the same day when the Israeli Ministry of Health released figures showing that half of the Israeli population has now received both doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine and that the rate of positive diagnosis for diseases has dropped to 1.3 %, its lowest level since June last year.
Palestinian Christian clerk gets a glimpse of Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine at a campaign to vaccinate frontline workers, at the health ministry in the West Bank town of Ramallah, March 21, 2021. (Nasser Nasser / AP)
Israel has opposed previous calls from rights groups and figures in the international community to help vaccinate Palestinians. Human rights groups and the Palestinian Authority have criticized Israeli West Bank settlers for vaccination, but Palestinians did not.
Israeli officials have said it is up to the Palestinians to vaccinate their own people according to the 1993 Oslo Accords between the two sides, although some officials have said Israel is considering giving one dose once all the Israelites are vaccinated.
The Palestinian Authority has independently contracted with several suppliers – including AstraZeneca, Russia and China – to receive doses, but few have arrived.
The PA has begun receiving vaccines through COVAX, a global vaccination program for poor and middle-income countries supported by the World Health Organization. The program aims to provide enough free doses to vaccinate up to 20 percent of the participating country ‘s population and about 90 countries have signed up for the program.
Approximately 61,440 vaccinated doses reached for the PA Ramallah last week after arriving at Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport the same day. The PA received 37,440 doses from Pfizer and 24,000 from AstraZeneca.
COVAX plans to deliver about 400,000 views of AstraZeneca to Palestinians, according to UNICEF. Vaccination has been controversial in recent days following reports of side effects; in a few rare cases, some who have been vaccinated develop blood clots. Some European countries stopped using it last week, but began managing the sights on Friday after health experts thought it was safe.
Health officials in Gaza have also received about 60,000 Russian Sputnik V vaccines funded by the United Arab Emirates and about 2,000 doses of Sputnik V from the Palestinian Authority.
Israel has vaccinated more than 100,000 Palestinians working in Israel or their cities, sending medical teams to manage the sightings at checkpoints and business zones in the West Bank and border areas.
Hamas police officers guard as workers load a truckload of 40,000 doses of Russian Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine on arrival in the Gaza Strip, at the Rafah border with Egypt, in Rafah, Gaza Strip , 11 March 2021. (Adel Hana / AP)
About five million Palestinians live in the West Bank and Gaza.
In January, the Palestinian Liberation Organization urged the international community to “hold Israel accountable” and ensure that it provides vaccines to all Palestinians living in Israeli-controlled areas. . Jerusalem has said no such official request has been made.
Last month U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke on the phone with Israeli Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi and referred to persuading Israel to provide more vaccines to the Palestinians.
Marking for Palestinian residents in East Jerusalem who deserve vaccinations through Israel’s health care system, Ashkenazi is said to have told Blinken that Israel has vaccinated more Palestinians than anyone else.
