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<div class="header reader-header reader-show-element"><font
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href="https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20210111-israel-is-weaponising-the-covid-19-vaccine-against-the-palestinians/">https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20210111-israel-is-weaponising-the-covid-19-vaccine-against-the-palestinians/</a></font>
<h1 class="reader-title">Israel is weaponising the Covid-19
vaccine against the Palestinians</h1>
<div class="credits reader-credits">Motasem A Dalloul - January
11, 2021</div>
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<p><span> January 11, 2021 at 4:26 pm </span></p>
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<p>In violation of all religious norms as well as
international laws and conventions, Israel is
weaponising the Covid-19 vaccine against the
Palestinians, whose land, homes and rights are under
constant threat from the occupation state.</p>
<p>The Israeli Health Ministry began its vaccination
programme on 20 December. Officials including Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that <a
href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/israels-millionth-vaccine-recipient-cheered-by-pm-named-as-convicted-killer/"
target="_blank">millions of doses</a> had been bought,
enough for everyone in Israel. This was deceitful,
because the occupation government is not vaccinating
some of the most vulnerable people under its control:
the Palestinians living under Israeli occupation, for
whom Israel is legally and morally responsible; and
Palestinian prisoners in its jails.</p>
<p>The latter was made clear on 26 December, when Public
Security Minister Amir Ohana ordered that security
prisoners in Israel be removed from the list of priority
groups for the vaccine. According to the <a
href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/minister-orders-prisons-dont-start-vaccinating-palestinian-inmates-yet/"
target="_blank"><i>Times of Israel</i></a>, Ohana told
the Israel Prison Service only to vaccinate staff in the
prisons where such prisoners are held.</p>
<p>The minister thus disregarded the recommendations of
the Health Ministry and the fact that the only security
prisoners in Israel are Palestinians, who endure very
harsh conditions in overcrowded jails, making them the
most vulnerable to catching Covid-19 in the country.
Around 200 Palestinian prisoners have caught the
coronavirus in Israeli jails to date.</p>
<p><strong>READ: <a title="Israel rejects WHO's request
to provide Palestine medics covid vaccines"
href="https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20210111-israel-rejects-whos-request-to-provide-palestine-medics-covid-vaccines/">Israel
rejects WHO's request to provide Palestine medics
covid vaccines</a></strong></p>
<p>The UN has reported that the Israeli human rights
organisation <a
href="http://www.emro.who.int/pse/palestine-news/who-opt-right-to-health-palestinian-prisoners.html"
target="_blank">Physicians for Human Rights</a>
receives around 400 complaints annually from Palestinian
prisoners and their families about prison conditions. <a
href="https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/deputy-a-g-to-amir-ohana-convicts-terrorists-must-receive-vaccination-654751"
target="_blank">Ohana, though, insists</a> that his
decision stands. He confirmed this last Friday in a
letter to Israel's Deputy Attorney General, Amit Marari,
who had told him that his instruction not to vaccinate
prisoners at this stage was not within his authority,
and prisoners must receive the vaccine.</p>
<p>Five Israeli rights groups filed an appeal to the
Israeli High Court on Sunday against Ohana's decision.
"According to professional sources," the <a
href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/human-rights-groups-petition-high-court-to-force-israel-to-vaccinate-inmates/"
target="_blank">petition</a> stated, "prisoners are an
at-risk population and action must be taken to vaccinate
them in parallel with the at-risk populations at large."</p>
<p>As far as the Palestinians in the occupied territories
are concerned, Israel has done nothing to facilitate the
distribution of vaccine for them. Regardless of the
existence of the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank
and Gaza Strip, these territories are still under full
Israeli occupation and control, and the state has a
legal responsibility to provide basic essentials to
everyone living under occupation, a responsibility that
it ignores routinely.</p>
<p>In the West Bank, the Apartheid Separation Wall and
military checkpoints make access to healthcare very
difficult for the Palestinians. In Gaza, the Israeli-led
blockade on the territory since 2007 has seen the
healthcare sector almost collapse. Hospitals suffer from
a severe shortage of medicines, medical disposables and
medical equipment, adequate electricity supplies and
fresh water. Hundreds of patients have died
unnecessarily due to these shortages.</p>
<p><strong>READ: <a title="Israel rights groups appeal
against minister's orders not to vaccinate Palestine
prisoners"
href="https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20210111-israel-rights-groups-appeal-against-ministers-orders-not-to-vaccinate-palestine-prisoners/">Israel
rights groups appeal against minister's orders not
to vaccinate Palestine prisoners</a></strong></p>
<p>Under Article 56 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, the
occupier of any country has the duty to ensure "the
adoption and application of the prophylactic and
preventive measures necessary to combat the spread of
contagious diseases and epidemics." Israel thus has a
legal obligation to provide the coronavirus vaccine to
the Palestinians living under its occupation.</p>
<p>Israel weaponisation of the vaccine is clear from its
condition that it would never allow its entry into the
Gaza Strip until the return of the Israeli soldiers (or
their bodies) captured during the Israeli offensive on
Gaza in 2014 and held by the Palestinian resistance ever
since. However, no official Israeli claim has been made
in this regard, but as neither Israeli officials nor
Hamas have denied these reports, they are likely to be
accurate.</p>
<p>"Israel is exploiting Hamas' helplessness to halt the
spread of the coronavirus and conditioning aid for the
pandemic on the return of Israeli captives and missing
soldiers," wrote Gada Majadli in <a
href="https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-covid-vaccines-for-gaza-is-the-legal-and-humanitarian-duty-of-israel-1.9404448"
target="_blank"><i>Haaretz</i></a> on 29 December. She
stressed that allowing the vaccine into Gaza is not a
charitable act, but Israel's "legal and humanitarian
duty."</p>
<p>The Centre for Political and Development Studies (CPDS)
in Gaza has criticised this condition and said that
Israel is adopting "a racist policy" on the vaccination
issue. "Israel is exploiting the issue of the
coronavirus vaccine in order to achieve political
gains," the CPDS pointed out. "This is a flagrant
violation of international law."</p>
<p><strong>READ: <a title="PA says vaccines could come in
March, accuses Israel of shirking duty to supply
them"
href="https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20210110-pa-says-vaccines-could-come-in-march-accuses-israel-of-shirking-duty-to-supply-them/">PA
says vaccines could come in March, accuses Israel of
shirking duty to supply them</a></strong></p>
<p>Last week, the Israeli rights group <a
href="https://gisha.org/updates/12197" target="_blank">Gisha-Maslak</a>
also commented on these reports, reiterating that,
"Israel is obligated to protect the health and safety of
all people living under its control, including by
ensuring that the vaccine is available in Israel, the
West Bank and Gaza… Israel must contribute to covering
the cost of the vaccine and its distribution,
unconditionally."</p>
<p>Israeli journalist <a
href="https://www.haaretz.co.il/debate/arabic/1.9410999"
target="_blank">Amira Hass</a> had this to say in <i>Haaretz</i>:
"Ohana has developed this prevailing Israeli trend,
which must continue forever, that the Palestinian
prisoners and their families must be continually
punished… The Palestinians are being systematically
prosecuted, away from the context of their life which
includes their being subject to systematic and
institutionalised violence under the Israeli
occupation."</p>
<p>Based on this distorted logic, she added, the Israeli
settlers, who are not living in their land — "I mean the
settlements" — get the vaccine, "while the Palestinians,
who are the owners of the land, stay out of the
calculations of the state."</p>
<p>The views expressed in this article belong to the
author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial
policy of Middle East Monitor.</p>
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