A People Abandoned

The Israeli government has received much praise across media outlets for its COVID-19 vaccination campaign; with 90 percent of elders and 44 percent of the general population having received at least one dose, Israel has the highest vaccination rate of any country. Yet most ignore the millions of unvaccinated Palestinians living on occupied land toward whom Israel is abandoning its responsibility.

Following the 1967 Six-Day War fought between Israel and its neighboring Arab states, Israel seized the West Bank and Gaza Strip. These territories remained under direct occupation until the Israeli government and the Palestinian Liberation Organization signed the 1995 Oslo II Accord, splitting the land into Palestinian-administrated Area A, jointly controlled Area B, and Israeli-controlled Area C.

While Gaza, which is designated Area A, has not been under occupation since the 2005 dismantling of Israeli settlements there and the removal of the Israeli military, it has been under de facto occupation since Israel's blockade installation in 2007. Under the blockade, which covers land, air, and sea, no one and nothing enters or leaves Gaza without Israeli permission. Nearly two million Palestinians have been locked in Gaza for years. The United Nations, various human rights groups, and a large part of the international community consider Israel to be occupying Gaza, regardless of what the government claims.

Healthcare access in Israeli-occupied land was a major issue even before the pandemic. Israel’s blockade on Gaza impeded access to medical treatment, Gazan hospitals lacked funding and resources, and permits required to travel into Israel for proper treatment were routinely denied. High population density, a depressed economy, and lack of access to drinking water—where 97 percent of freshwater in the Gaza Strip is polluted or otherwise unsuitable for human consumption—have worsened the crisis.

Since the pandemic, Gazans and Palestinians in the West Bank have suffered immensely. Many cannot afford the loss of income that would come with self-quarantining or even the cost of personal protective equipment. With the high population density, social distancing is nearly impossible. As Palestinians are in dire need of relief, the vaccine gives them hope. However, Israel will distribute the vaccines in the West Bank, but only to Jewish settlers (who are largely considered by the international community to be residing there illegally), while the Palestinians living around them are left to wait and suffer.

International law mandates that Israel provide vaccine access to Palestinians in Gaza and Area C of the West Bank. Article 56 in the 1949 Geneva Convention states that “the occupying power has the duty of ensuring and maintaining, with the cooperation of national and local authorities, […] public health and hygiene in the occupied territory, with particular reference to the adoption and application of the prophylactic and preventive measures necessary to combat the spread of contagious diseases and epidemics.”

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has called on Israel to “ensure equal access to COVID-19 vaccines for Palestinians,” citing the Convention. Ten Israeli, Palestinian, and international human rights organizations have done the same in a joint statement.

Beyond the legal aspect, the Israeli government has a moral obligation to vaccinate Palestinians as it does Israelis. As Dana Moss, the International Advocacy Officer at one of the organizations undersigned on the joint statement, puts it, "It's simply ethically unconscionable that a healthy 22-year-old living in a West Bank settlement will receive a vaccine, whereas an 80-year-old Palestinian with diabetes will not."

In defense against such criticism, Israeli officials refer to the 1993 Oslo Accords, which place the responsibility for providing healthcare in the West Bank on the Palestinian Authority. According to Deputy Health Minister Yoav Kish, “Our responsibility is to vaccinate our own population.” However, examining this argument reveals its fragility. For one, Israel regularly violates the Oslo Accords with its regular demolition of Palestinian homes and its recently planned annexation of parts of the West Bank. Israel cannot cite Oslo to use as a bailout when it is convenient and ignore it the rest of the time.

Moreover, international law trumps Oslo. As United Nations human rights experts point out, “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.” Israel does not have to deem itself an occupying power for it to be one; its activity in Gaza speaks for itself. Nothing justifies Israel’s continued occupation, regardless of the way the Israeli Government styles it. The situation being what it is, however, Israel must fulfill its legal and moral obligation.

In recent days, Israel has agreed to provide 5,000 vaccine doses to Palestinian frontline healthcare workers. Rights groups, including Human Rights Watch, have correctly called this action “wholly inadequate,” as 5,000 doses are nothing compared to the five million doses that Israelis have received and the amount needed for the two million Palestinians living on occupied land. As said Human Rights Watch Director Omar Shakir, “After 50 years of occupation with no end in sight, Israel’s duties go beyond offering spare doses.”