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<font size="1"><a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/covid-19-israels-record-vaccine-rollout-comes-great-cost-palestinians">https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/covid-19-israels-record-vaccine-rollout-comes-great-cost-palestinians</a>
</font><h1 class="gmail-reader-title">For Palestinians, Israel's record vaccine rollout exposes Covid-19 apartheid</h1>
<div class="gmail-credits gmail-reader-credits">Richard Silverstein - January 6, 2021<br></div>
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<div class="gmail-moz-reader-content gmail-reader-show-element"><div id="gmail-readability-page-1" class="gmail-page"><div><p>Global media have <a href="https://www.israelhayom.com/2021/01/03/world-marvels-as-israels-vaccination-drive-gains-momentum/" target="_blank">marvelled</a> at Israel’s rollout of the <a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/topics/covid" target="_blank">Covid-19</a> vaccine, with close to one million people vaccinated in the past two weeks. It plans to <a href="https://www.france24.com/en/video/20210104-israel-plans-2-million-vaccinated-by-end-of-january" target="_blank">double</a>
that number by the end of January. This is indeed a success, but it
should not obscure other troubling aspects of both the vaccination
campaign and the massive public health crisis that preceded it.</p>
<p>Israel has been severely impacted by the pandemic, ranked <a href="https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html" target="_blank">32nd globally</a> in the number of cases of the disease and falling in the top 60 when it comes to the <a href="https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/data/mortality" target="_blank">mortality rate</a>. Israel’s public health approach <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/global-opinions/israel-was-a-covid-19-success-then-netanyahu-showed-how-not-to-manage-the-disease/2020/07/31/0eb62914-d0e6-11ea-8d32-1ebf4e9d8e0d_story.html" target="_blank">was largely dysfunctional</a>, with lockdowns imposed, suspended and then reimposed. </p>
<p>The ultra-Orthodox community strongly resisted measures decreed by the government and had an extraordinarily <a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/deri-calls-for-ultra-orthodox-soul-searching-amid-high-virus-infection-rate/" target="_blank">high rate</a> of disease transmission. Testing in Israel's Palestinian citizens' communities <a href="https://outline.com/zaehrb" target="_blank">was haphazard</a>. The Palestinian Authority (PA) had far less resources to address the crisis, and people were mostly left to their own devices.</p>
<h3>One extreme to the next</h3>
<p>Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has seemed to ricochet from
one extreme to the next in his approach to combatting the pandemic. <a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/health-ministry-deputy-chief-announces-his-resignation/" target="_blank">Several</a> senior <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/07/07/888148317/amid-new-surge-in-virus-cases-israels-top-public-health-official-resigns" target="_blank">public health</a> officials and one <a href="https://newsaf.cgtn.com/news/2020-09-14/The-pandemic-Israeli-minister-resigns-over-plans-for-second-lockdown-TLg5HtgUXC/index.html" target="_blank">minister</a>
have resigned. Small businesses rebelled against restrictions that
harmed their livelihoods, and thousands of people took to the streets to
<a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/health-coronavirus-israel-protests/your-time-is-up-thousands-protest-against-netanyahu-over-covid-19-and-alleged-corruption-idINKCN25502I?edition-redirect=ca" target="_blank">protest</a> both the government’s approach and the prime minister’s looming corruption trial.</p>
<p>In fighting Covid-19, the government fell back on the usual<a href="https://www.richardsilverstein.com/2020/03/29/israeli-defense-ministry-recommends-technology-scoring-individuals-based-on-likelihood-of-having-coronavirus/" target="_blank"> security and surveillance protocols</a> it favours when battling a hostile force. It recruited the Shin Bet, which had been <a href="https://www.richardsilverstein.com/2020/03/24/israels-shin-bet-transforms-mission-from-hunting-terrorists-to-hunting-the-sick/" target="_blank">using a mass surveillance tool</a>
monitoring Israeli electronic devices and communications, in order to
track coronavirus cases. Privacy advocates protested the infringement on
citizens’ rights.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Though Israel is the occupying power in the West Bank and Gaza and,
as such, has responsibility for the Palestinian population, it has
washed its hands of it</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Meanwhile, after learning of the successful development of a vaccine,
Netanyahu secured millions of doses, but at a cost. Israel is <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jan/03/palestinians-excluded-from-israeli-covid-vaccine-rollout-as-jabs-go-to-settlers" target="_blank">paying $62</a> a dose. AstraZeneca’s vaccine <a href="https://fortune.com/2020/12/18/how-much-europe-will-pay-each-covid-19-vaccine/" target="_blank">costs as little as $2 a dose</a>
for the EU countries that purchased it, while Moderna’s version is $18.
But Netanyahu paid the higher price, because he knew he faced an
imminent election (now <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-55408837" target="_blank">scheduled for March</a>),
increasing unpopularity and a threat to his continued rule. He figured
that a Covid-19 success, even purchased at such a high price, would be a
triumph to present to a dubious electorate.</p>
<h3>Delayed shipments</h3>
<p>In Palestine, there is no vaccine to be had at any price. The PA does not have the funds to purchase it, and is waiting for <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/health/palestinians-left-waiting-as-israel-is-set-to-deploy-covid-19-vaccine" target="_blank">shipments</a>
from the World Health Organisation, which have been delayed. Though
Israel is the occupying power in the West Bank and Gaza and, as such,
has responsibility for the Palestinian population, it has washed its
hands of it. </p>
<p>Pro-Israel pundits have falsely argued that the Oslo Accords
specified that Palestinians would be responsible for their own health
and welfare. Yet, this ignores the fact that Israel never honoured its
commitments under Oslo, and never recognised a Palestinian state.</p>
<p>No state, no sovereignty; hence, the PA is incapable of offering the
protections a fully functioning government would. Not to mention, it is
essentially bankrupt and relies on international humanitarian relief to
get by. How does anyone expect it could pay $20 a dose, let alone $62?</p>
<div>
<p><img src="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/covid%20vaccine%20doses%202021%20afp.jpg" alt="Doses of the Covid-19 vaccine are pictured at a branch of Israel’s Clalit Health Services on 4 January (AFP)" style="margin-right: 25px;" width="392" height="261"></p>
Doses of the Covid-19 vaccine are pictured at a branch of Israel’s Clalit Health Services on 4 January (AFP)</div>
<p>The other main contention is that the PA has not <a href="https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/palestinians-we-didnt-ask-israel-for-covid-19-vaccine-652703" target="_blank">asked</a>
for Israeli assistance - but Netanyahu certainly has Palestinian
President Mahmoud Abbas’ number, and could offer help if he wished. Not
only hasn’t he offered, Palestinians are the last thing on his mind. </p>
<p>Despite the vaunted success of Israel’s vaccine rollout, as usual in
the country, benefits are delivered differently to different ethnic
communities. Nearly 30 percent of those getting the vaccine within
Israel proper are Jewish, while <a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/officials-concerned-by-low-vaccination-rate-among-arab-israelis/" target="_blank">only 15 percent are Palestinian</a>.
Healthcare in general is inferior in Palestinian communities, and
Palestinians place less trust in official government programmes, which
have historically been of little or no benefit to them.</p>
<p>Of 300,000 vaccine doses administered by Israel’s largest health service organisation, Clalit, only<a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/officials-concerned-by-low-vaccination-rate-among-arab-israelis/" target="_blank"> five percent</a> were set aside for Palestinian communities, and just <a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/officials-concerned-by-low-vaccination-rate-among-arab-israelis/" target="_blank">10 of its 145 vaccination sites</a> are located in Palestinian areas. The government has also refused to inoculate <a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israel-orders-jails-not-vaccinate-palestinian-security-prisoners" target="_blank">Palestinian security prisoners</a> in Israeli jails. They get no protection at all. </p>
<h3>Deadly consequences</h3>
<p>Keep in mind that large numbers of Palestinians work in the Israeli
healthcare system as doctors, nurses and pharmacists. Nearly <a href="https://outline.com/yJsqha" target="_blank">20 percent of Israeli doctors are Palestinian</a>,
as are 25 percent of nurses and nearly 50 percent of pharmacists.
Palestinian doctors work alongside Jewish doctors to save the lives of
Covid-19 patients, both Jewish and Palestinian, at Israeli hospitals.</p>
<div>
<p><a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/coronavirus-palestinians-trapped-between-pandemic-and-israeli-occupation" target="_blank"><img src="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/read_more/public/images-story/000_1pi9dh.jpg?itok=rVXFQl4C" alt="" style="margin-right: 0px;" width="392" height="245"></a></p><p>Israel is using coronavirus to implement the deal of the century</p>
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<p>In light of the lower rates of inoculation in Palestinian areas, a
country with a good public health system would organise a mass education
and media campaign to persuade citizens to take extra steps to have
themselves inoculated. No such outreach is happening in Israel, because
the government simply doesn’t think that way.</p>
<p>It leaves Palestinians largely to fend for themselves - an example of
what former US politician Daniel Patrick Moynihan infamously called “<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1970/03/01/archives/benign-neglect-on-race-is-proposed-by-moynihan-moynihan-urges.html" target="_blank">benign neglect</a>”. But in Israel, the neglect isn’t benign at all; it is enmeshed in the fabric of society and has deadly consequences.</p>
<p>This situation highlights the racism at the heart of Israeli society,
showing how Israel is a nation based on apartheid, with superior
rights, privileges and benefits offered to Jews and inferior ones to
Palestinians.</p>
<p>Global media outlets trumpeting Israel’s success in administering the
vaccine should remember that such success comes at an enormous cost to
Israel’s non-Jews, who are left behind.</p>
<p><i>The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Eye.</i></p>
<p><em>This article is available in French on <a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/fr/opinion-fr/israel-covid-vaccination-palestiniens-apartheid-racisme-netanyahou-elections" target="_blank">Middle East Eye French edition</a>.</em></p>
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