Palestinian Authority cancels deal for 1 million COVID vaccine doses from Israel
An Israeli student receives a COVID-19 vaccine injection at a vaccination center in Tel Aviv, Jan. 23, 2021. Photo by Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90
(JTA) — The Palestinian Authority canceled a deal that would have seen Israel give it one million COVID vaccine doses in exchange for a later shipment.
The P.A. made the move because many of the doses were set to expire in the coming weeks, according to Haaretz. By time Palestinian Health Minister Mai al-Kaila announced the cancelation, 100,000 of the doses had already been delivered.
The decision, made Thursday by Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz and approved by Naftali Bennett, the prime minister, constituted a change of Israeli policy following months during which Israel was criticized for not helping Palestinians get vaccinated. Israel led the world in inoculating its population, and its vaccination rates have slowed recently after most of the population has been vaccinated and case rates have plummeted.
In return for the shipments, the Palestinian Authority was to send Israel shipments of Pfizer doses it is set to receive in the future. The deal had been initiated by the previous Israeli government, which was in power through last week, but details had not been worked out. It was finalized by the new coalition before it was nixed.
“The coronavirus knows no borders,” said Horowitz, the chair of the left-wing Meretz party, according to Haaretz, when the deal was still in effect. “This important step is in the interest of all parties. I hope that it will set in motion a collaboration between Israel and its Palestinian neighbors in other areas as well.”
The U.S. State Department had already praised the agreement by early Friday afternoon.
“The United States welcomes cooperation between Israel and the Palestinian Authority to provide over 1 million COVID-19 vaccines to the Palestinian people,” spokesman Ned Price tweeted.
Human rights organizations criticized Israel for not immediately providing large amounts of vaccines to Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza after it received its early Pfizer supplies. Critics said that Israel, as the occupying power of the West Bank, has a responsibility to vaccinate the territory’s residents regardless of nationality.
Israel has countered that prior agreements with Palestinian officials gave Palestinian agencies responsibility for healthcare.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30
