Secretary of State Tony Blinken on Monday called on his Israeli counterpart in their phone call for Israel to facilitate the transfer of COVID-19 vaccines to Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza, Israeli officials told me.
News management: On Tuesday, the Israeli prime minister’s office announced that Israel had decided to send a “symbolic amount” of vaccines to the Palestinian Authority and several countries that had requested assistance.
- The prime minister’s office said the Palestinians would receive several thousand doses of vaccine for medical teams.
- A similar number of doses will be given to several other countries, such as Honduras, which have sent a plane to pick up the vaccines. The vaccines will be taken from a quantity of 100,000 Modern doses that Israel has bought, but has not yet used.
Why does it matter: Israel has stepped up its assistance to the Palestinians in COVID-19 in recent weeks after facing criticism in the international media.
- Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki said in a Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council Zoom speech on Monday that Israel had refused to give vaccines to Palestinians or even allow shipments of vaccines from abroad. West Bank and Gaza.
- Israel claims that this criticism is false and politically motivated.
The whole picture: The Biden administration is trying to improve the situation on the ground in the West Bank and Gaza and gradually build trust between Israelis and Palestinians. Biden administration officials believe that the fight against COVID-19 could be a basis for positive cooperation between Israel and the Palestinians.
Leading the news: Blinken and Ashkenazi discussed their appeals about Iran and other regional issues, but COVID-19 cooperation with the Palestinians was lifted by the secretary of state as a specific element of action.
- Israeli officials told me that Ashkenazi pointed out to Blinken that Israel is the country that has vaccinated the largest number of Palestinians in the world to date, indicating 300,000 Palestinians in East Jerusalem receiving health services from Israel.
- Ashkenazi told Blinken that Israel had given several hundred doses of vaccine to Palestinians from its national supply, allowed a shipment of Sputnik V vaccines from Russia to enter the West Bank and allowed some of that shipment to Gaza. Ashkenazi told Blinken that Israel is also considering vaccinating about 75,000 Palestinians working in Israel.
- State Department spokesman Ned Price declined to comment. In a briefing on Friday, Price said the United States believes it is “important for Palestinians to gain increased access to COVID vaccines in the coming weeks.”
What’s next: Last Friday, a delegation of senior Israeli Ministry of Health officials visited Ramallah for talks with their Palestinian counterparts. One of the issues discussed was for Israel to provide Palestinians with 100,000 doses of vaccines from its national supply to vaccinate medical teams and people over the age of 60.