Israel Is Not Responsible for Vaccinating the Palestinians

Ma’ariv, Israel, January 20

As expected, and as with any positive Israeli achievement, the positive international attention paid to Israel’s success in acquiring coronavirus vaccines is offset by a parallel, murky and documented wave of criticism and hostility towards Israel coming from international sources in countries, organizations and the global media. As is often the case with the international community’s double standard on Israel, the positive international attention paid to Israel’s success in vaccinating its population against COVID-19 has been offset by a parallel wave of criticism that it should be doing more to help the Palestinians. According to this claim, Israel is an occupying power in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip and, as such, bears full responsibility to vaccinate the population residing in these territories. Some critics went as far as arguing that Israel is obliged to do so under international law. Unfortunately, these accusations are truly baseless and are motivated by nothing more than pure hatred for Israel and its success. First, Israel is not occupying the Gaza Strip, and the Fourth Geneva Convention, pertaining to the protection of civilians during times of war, does not apply to the population of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Second, ever since Israel and the PLO signed the Oslo Accords in 1995 (an agreement that is still in force), the Palestinians have been living under an independent legal regime. This regime is fully responsible for governance over the territories under its control, including full responsibility for the health of its population. The third annex to the Oslo Accords required the Palestinian Authority and Israel to exchange information that would help them fight public health crises. Nothing more, nothing less. Third, Israel’s naval siege of the Gaza Strip is used to prevent the smuggling of materials and equipment that could be used to build rockets and construct tunnels. Israel does not prevent the entry of humanitarian aid and medical equipment into the Gaza Strip. Thousands of trucks transport goods to the Gaza Strip every day through land crossings. Indeed, Israel’s naval siege has been approved by the United Nations as a legitimate means of preventing the import of offensive military equipment. It is clear that epidemiological and moral considerations oblige both Israel and the Palestinian Authority, as well as the terrorist organization Hamas, to do whatever they can to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus in light of the geographical proximity between Israel, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.  But this obligation does not include an Israeli duty to vaccinate the Palestinian population. – Alan Baker, former Israeli ambassador to Canada (translated by Asaf Zilberfarb)