What Israel partisans aren't telling us about Oslo and the Covid vaccine
by Kathryn Shihadah
As Israel races to be the first country to reach immunity to the coronavirus, it has been on a roller coaster of fame and infamy. At first, it was all cheers for Israel’s amazingly fast vaccine rollout.
But the next news cycle wasn’t so rosy: residents of the occupied Palestinian territories were not going to receive shots. No longer a modern-day miracle, the vaccination campaign was just another example of Israeli apartheid.
The media scolded Israel for its discriminatory policy, especially in a time of global pandemic that knows no borders.
Israel apologists countered with articles like this:
When lawmakers get international law wrong: Critics of Israel embarrass themselves in attacking its COVID vaccination plans
The arguments against vaccines for Palestinians seem to be airtight, but they’re not.
I’ve written in some detail about the vaccine situation in Israel-Palestine, but I believe the attempts to rationalize Israel’s criminal neglect of the Palestinian people under its control needs to be addressed separately.
“According to Oslo, Palestinians take care of their own vaccinations”
One argument raised in opposition to vaccine-sharing refers to the Oslo II Accords of 1995, which contains this clause:
Powers and responsibilities in the sphere of health in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip will be transferred to the Palestinian side…[Palestinians] shall continue to apply the present standards of vaccination of Palestinians and shall improve them according to internationally accepted standards in the field...
The wording is so clear and relevant, I confess I was taken aback – was this accurate?
But there’s more to the Oslo passage than meets the eye.
Israel partisans had chosen to quote only part of the vaccination clause. Here it is in context:
Powers and responsibilities in the sphere of health in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip will be transferred to the Palestinian side…[Palestinians] shall continue to apply the present standards of vaccination of Palestinians and shall improve them according to internationally accepted standards in the field, taking into account WHO recommendations. In this regard, the Palestinian side shall continue the vaccination of the population with the vaccines listed in Schedule 3.
Schedule 3 specifies a “routine vaccine system,” including general childhood immunizations. There is no implication that pandemic vaccines would be part of this system.
Here is another passage from Oslo that pro-Israel articles leave out:
Israel and the Palestinian side shall exchange information regarding epidemics and contagious diseases [and] shall co-operate in combating them.
It seems pretty clear that, if one wants to use the Oslo Accords as a basis for determining how to proceed with Covid vaccines, Israel should be helping Palestinians.
It also seems pretty clear that Israel partisans were manipulating their readers with half-truths. Or perhaps they just didn’t do their research thoroughly.
Does Oslo matter?
As an aside, many politicians, both Palestinian and Israeli, have considered the 1993-1995 Oslo Accords dead for years. The document was intended as a 5-year interim agreement; Israel in particular took advantage of loopholes in the agreement to expand its control.
In addition, the United Nations has declared that international law takes priority over Oslo. The Fourth Geneva Convention specifically states that it is the duty of the occupying power to provide healthcare.
Subsidizing terrorism?
Yet another argument some Israel devotees use to absolve Israel of responsibility is the “fact” that the Palestinian government pays “generous stipends to terrorists and their families...a policy known as ‘pay for slay.’” Instead of wasting Palestinian tax dollars on this grisly program, it should have been saved for a rainy day – like a pandemic.
If Americans Knew has published a detailed analysis of this practice (known as “pay for slay” only by Israel partisans), which amounts to a social safety net for families whose breadwinner has been killed, injured, or imprisoned.
The fact that an occasional distraught Palestinian goes off the deep end and commits a violent act – or that in the past, groups organized to do so – is a testament to the brutality and persistence of Israel’s oppression. Given that Palestinian violence is unacceptable, Israeli violence is likewise unacceptable. And because Israeli violence is both widespread and state-sanctioned, it is all the more objectionable.
Ultimately, Israel controls the Palestinian population in the region, and has shaped it into an impoverished, dependent society.
Much as Palestinians long to be out from under Israel's boot, until Israel sets them free, it is obligated to provide for at least their most basic needs: giving them a shot at surviving a global pandemic.