Prison authorities are on the rise as Israel faces renewed calls to vaccinate millions of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
The Israeli Prison Service has said it will begin vaccinating all those imprisoned against COVID-19, including Palestinians, following calls from rights groups, Palestinian officials and a common law of Israel.
Israel has given at least one vaccine dose to more than two million citizens, becoming the world leader in everyone’s vaccines. But in addition to the prisoners, Palestinians in Israel’s West Bank and Gaza Strip under siege have yet to secure their first supply.
Public Security Minister Amir Ohana said Palestinian prisoners were the last to be found in the campaign to vaccinate everyone in prison.
Israel’s Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit wrote to Ohana criticizing the idea as “tainted with illegality”, according to Israeli newspaper Ma’ariv.
Israeli and global rights groups, including Amnesty International, as well as the Palestinian Freedom Group have also issued public calls for Israel to vaccinate the 4,400 Palestinians held in its prisons. .
According to the Palestinian Prisoners Club, about 250 Palestinians in Israeli prisons have been positive for coronavirus.
‘Fairness’
Health Minister Yuli Edelstein announced last week that the first dose of vaccine would be released to prisons in the coming days.
The prison service issued a statement on Sunday saying, “After vaccination of staff… vaccination of detainees in prisons shall begin in accordance with medical and operational protocols established by the Prison Service.”
Local news agency Maan said the Israeli prison service had been quoted as saying the vaccines would be available to “all prisoners”, and “without separation”.
She said those who turn down the jobs had to sign a voluntary signature form.
Responding to the news, a comment for Hamas, the body that governs the Gaza Strip, said that Israel had a duty to “give vaccines to prisoners”.
Earlier on Sunday, the Human Rights Guard (HRW) also called on Israel to vaccinate the 2.8 million Palestinians in the West Bank and the two million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
Omar Shakir, HRW director for Israel and Palestine, specifically criticized the practice of vaccinating Jewish settlers in illegal settlements in the West Bank, but not the Palestinians.
“Nothing can confirm today’s reality in parts of the West Bank, where people on one side of the street are vaccinated, while those on the other side are not. , based on whether they are Jewish or Palestinian, “Shakir said.
“Everyone in the same area should have equal access to the vaccine, regardless of race,” he said.
Last week, the Palestinian foreign ministry said in a statement that Israel had been “evading its duties as a property power and discriminating against the Palestinian people, depriving them of their right to health care “.
The Palestinian Authority (PA) has said it has signed contracts with four vaccine suppliers, including Russian manufacturers Sputnik V..
Provisions would also come through the World Health Organisation’s vaccination program for low- and middle-income countries.
The PA said it expects to have enough doses to vaccinate 70 percent of the Palestinian population, in the West Bank and Gaza, with doses expected by mid-March.