As a Palestinian resident in Jerusalem, Ismail Daiq is used to reconciling the dividing lines between communities: the daily commute to a Jordan Valley date farm involves going across a checkpoint on his way home.
Now the coronavirus pandemic has created another flaw line for him to address: the huge difference between access to vaccines in Israel and the Palestinian territories.
Palestinian businessman Ismail Daiq, who has been vaccinated against coronavirus, buys vegetables in Jericho
(Photo: Reuters)
Living within the Israeli health system, Daiq, 62, has already received his second COVID-19 vaccine in a country that is a leader in the world inoculation campaign.
But his Palestinian sisters and 95-year-old mother in Jericho are still awaiting the release of a vaccine that has only just begun under the Palestinian Authority, which exercises limited jurisdiction in the West Bank.
Daiq deserves a vaccine because he became a resident of Jerusalem two decades ago when he married a woman from the city.
Palestinian businessman Ismail Daiq
(Photo: Reuters)
The rest of his family, friends and employees are not worthy, as they only have West Bank identity documents that do not allow them to pass through Israeli checkpoints that control entry to the city. .
So when the date farmer travels daily into the lands of Palestine, it is uncomfortable to realize that even though he feels safe, loved ones are still at risk from the virus.
“I feel guilty, I feel very sad, because I want my whole family safe,” Daiq told Reuters.
Coronavirus vaccines were transferred to PA
“When you see that you get those services, the vaccine, and the whole family can’t get this vaccine, you feel like there’s a difference between you and your family.”
While Israel and the Palestinian Authority coordinate security issues, political ties have been found. Negotiations finally broke down in 2014.
In January, the Palestinian Foreign Ministry accused Israel of evading its duties as a proprietary power by not including Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip in their inoculation program.
Palestinian Hamas police patrol on empty streets amid the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak in Gaza
(Photo: EPA)
Israeli officials have said this is the work of the Palestinian authorities.
“If it is up to the Israeli health minister to take care of the Palestinians, what exactly is the Palestinian health minister responsible for?” Israeli Health Minister Yuli Edelstein told the BBC last month.
While Israel has so far received a third of its 9 million citizens, the Palestinian Authority received the first batch of 2,000 vaccines – provided by Israel – on Monday. West Bank health workers received the first shots.
Daiq said he tried to avoid the subject with his family, as his mother asked him when she would be surrounded.
Palestinian men watch live television broadcast of Palestinian Health Minister Mai al-Kaila announcing the start of vaccination against Covid-19, in the West Bank city of Hebron
(Photo: AFP)
His brother Ibrahim, 60, said he wished “good health to everyone on this land” but that there was a sense of inequality among Palestinians.
“Because of this, my natural rights as a man, myself and the rest of the people living on the West Bank and Gaza, to think that we are a country that lives under a function, would we should also be entitled to benefit from this vaccine. “
The West Bank, where 3.1 million Palestinians live, has reported 101,221 coronavirus cases, with 1,271 deaths. Gaza, with a population of two million, has recorded more than 51,000 cases with 523 deaths. Israel has reported 663,665 coronavirus cases and 4,888 deaths.