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January 16th, 2021 
Awake Goy An Israeli family wearing gas masks during the Gulf War in 1991. (Photo: Nathan Alpert, Israeli Government Press Office)
The Latest:
- 169,388 Palestinians tested positive for COVID-19; 153,774 recoveries; 1,821 deaths
- Of those who tested positive, 103,613 live in the West Bank; 18,883 live in East Jerusalem; and 46,892 live in Gaza
- 535,049 Israelis tested positive for COVID-19; 453,358 recoveries; 3,910 deaths; 2 million vaccinated
Israel vaccinates the 2,000,000th person
Late Thursday evening Israel announced it vaccinated its 2,000,000th person, hitting a the staggering benchmark two weeks ahead of schedule and after achieving the highest per-capita rate of vaccination in the world.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reported the 2 million mark in a visit to the Maccabi Healthcare Services clinic in Ramle yesterday. In a statement to press he announced,
“I turn your attention to the fact that in several of the main countries in Europe they are talking about lockdowns into March and April. Not with us. But we still need to follow the rules and lower morbidity. We will shorten the period of restrictions as much as we can. Nevertheless, we are asking for your full cooperation both in being vaccinated and in following the rules. We will continue on to the next million, we are on the way.”
While the feat has been widely celebrated, over the last week there have been two conversations swelling about how Palestinians are excluded from the robust inoculation campaign. First, Palestinian security detainees in Israeli prisons are not covered by any government right now. Five Israeli human rights organizations filed a petition earlier this month urging the prison service to “vaccinate the entire prisoner population according to the vaccination priority set by the Ministry of Health, with an emphasis on prisoners aged 60 and over, and those in high-risk groups.”
Second, and probably the conversation you’ve already heard about, many legal experts are asking if Israel has an obligation to vaccinate Palestinians in the occupied territory?
Whose responsibility is it to vaccinate the Palestinians?
As of now, the Palestinian government is only securing vaccines for around 40% of the population. Economics is likely behind that decision. The last year wreaked havoc on an already contracting Palestinian economy. Early during the pandemic unemployment peaked at over 50%. The Palestinian Authority even took out a $230 million loan from Israel in May. This is to say, the Palestinian government was cash-strapped even before the coronavirus.
Around half of the vaccines that will be disbursed will be paid for by the Gavi Alliance, a global fund started from seed money by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The other half is expected to be purchased from Russia, although no national rollout plan has been announced.
Yesterday the UN’s latest situation report provided an updated timeline, anticipating vaccine shipments would be completed by April 2021.
We expect, come spring there will be a few months between when Israel has completed its vaccination program, and no doses have been administered to Palestinians.
Looking back: During a previous public scares, after an intervention from Israel’s high court, Israel did provide heath support to Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza (Palestinians from East Jerusalem are entitled to seek vaccines under Israel’s national program). The most recent instance commentators are pointing to dates back to is 1991 when Israel provided gas masks to Palestinians during the Gulf War.
International law professor at Cambridge, Eyal Benvenisti, wrote about the ruling this week for Just Security:
“This obligation was recognized in the Supreme Court ruling in the days leading up to the Gulf War of 1991 (HCJ Murcus v. Minister of Defense), when the fear of a chemical attack by Iraq prompted the distribution of gas masks to all Israelis. The Supreme Court ordered the military commander to distribute similar kits to the Palestinian population in those areas quickly and free of charge. Since there were not enough protective kits for all, the Court ordered the military commander to ‘make every effort to obtain these protective kits as soon as possible.’”
The legal principle that guided the decision in that case is the same one being referenced now, namely the Geneva Convention. Article 56 requires Israel to carry out “the prophylactic and preventive measures necessary to combat the spread of contagious diseases and epidemics” in consort with local Palestinian officials.
Article 60 takes it one step further. This provision stipulates even if others are responding to a medical crisis, that aid “shall in no way relieve the occupying power of any of its responsibilities” to give healthcare to the protected population. In layman’s terms, because Israel occupies the Palestinian territory, it’s on the hook for the COVID-19 vaccines.
However, the Oslo Accords complicate the matter legally. Under the agreement from the 1990s, direct services like healthcare was transferred to the responsibility of the then newly created Palestinian Authority.
Special rapporteurs to the United Nations Human Rights Council argued this week that it really doesn’t matter what the parties agreed to at Oslo, it cannot override the Geneva Convention:
“The Oslo Accords must be interpreted and applied consistent with international law, and cannot derogate from its broad protections. The ultimate responsibility for health services remains with the occupying power until the occupation has fully and finally ended.”
Looking forward: Israel’s minister of health Yuli Edelstein told Sky News’s Mark Stone Palestinians would not receive vaccines before Israeli citizens, however, “If, God willing, we will get to the situation where they will be nearly no demand in this country, we will be able to share.”
One probable outcome is the question, can the Oslo Accords can supersede the Geneva Convention, will likely be a matter of discussion in Israel’s high court in the coming weeks. We anticipate these calls to vaccinate Palestinians will be heard before a judge eventually.
On the sidelines: Our correspondent Yumna Patel reported an Arab civil rights organization has filed a petition seeking health directives in Arabic for Palestinian citizens of Israel. Information about vaccines, testing centers and treatment are available in Hebrew and English.
Attorneys for Adalah told Patel: “One would think that, after nearly a full year of confronting a pandemic that doesn’t discriminate between race, religion, or ethnic group, Magen David Adom would provide emergency medical services equally accessible to all citizens.”
They added,
“The fact that essential public health information is not available in Arabic – but is provided in English, a language which has no official status in Israel – sends a clear message to 20 percent of Israel’s population that they are inferior. It is unthinkable that we are forced to turn to the Supreme Court just to ensure that information on basic life-saving medical services related to COVID-19 are available to all.”
Positivity rate dips in Gaza as families struggle with COVID-19 at home
Palestinian employees at the United Nations Relief and Works Agency wear face masks and prepare food aid rations at a distribution center in al-Shati refugee camp, west Gaza City on January 14, 2021. (Photo: Ashraf Amra/APA Images)
Over the last week the positivity rate in Gaza finally dipped to 20% for the first time in weeks. The new numbers were released Thursday evening by the UN, along with a reminder that Gaza will run out of COVID-19 tests on January 20.
Gaza currently represents 51% of the active cases among Palestinians. We Are Not Numbers’ Pam Bailey reported on how the disease impacted one family:
“The extended family of Asmaa Tayeh, operations manager for We Are Not Numbers, is increasingly typical of residents there. Twenty-five members of the clan have tested positive for the virus, 15 have fallen ill and three have died.
‘Ever since the reports of the virus surfaced in March 2020, we’ve been paranoid,’ says Asmaa. ‘I was scared to death and ran to the market to fetch food so we could prepare to stay home for months. I’d yell at anyone who left the house. But since we didn’t know anyone who was infected, we started feeling a little safer. Then came November and December. More and more of our relatives were infected.’”
In the last 24 hours, 726 Palestinian tested positive for COVID-19, of whom 368 are in Gaza.
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