Secretary of State Tony Blinken asked his Israeli counterpart in their phone call to Israel on Monday to facilitate the transfer of COVID-19 vaccines to Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza, Israeli officials told me.
Driving the news: On Tuesday, the Israeli Prime Minister’s office announced that Israel has decided to send a “token amount” of vaccines to the Palestinian Authority and several countries that have asked for help.
- The prime minister’s office said the Palestinians will 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 has sent a plane to collect the vaccines. The vaccines will come from a stockpile of 100,000 Moderna doses that Israel has purchased but has not yet used.
Why it matters: Israel has stepped up its aid to Palestinians on COVID-19 in recent weeks following criticism in the international media.
- Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki said in a Zoom speech at the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council on Monday that Israel has refused to give vaccines to Palestinians or even allow vaccine shipments from abroad into the West Bank and Gaza.
- Israel claims that this criticism is false and politically motivated.
The big picture: The Biden government is seeking to improve the situation on the ground in the West Bank and Gaza and gradually build trust between Israelis and Palestinians. Biden government officials believe the fight against COVID-19 could provide a basis for positive cooperation between Israel and the Palestinians.
Driving the news: Blinken and Ashkenazi discussed Iran and other regional issues during their phone call, but COVID-19 collaboration with the Palestinians was highlighted by the Secretary of State as a specific action point.
- Israeli officials told me that Ashkenazi stressed to Blinken that Israel is the country that has so far vaccinated the largest number of Palestinians in the world, pointing to 300,000 Palestinians in East Jerusalem receiving health services from Israel.
- Ashkenazi told Blinken that Israel gave a few hundred doses of vaccine to the Palestinians from the national supply, let a shipment of Sputnik V vaccines from Russia into the West Bank and part of this shipment into 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 US believes “it is important for Palestinians to have increased access to COVID vaccines in the coming weeks.”
What now: Last Friday, a delegation of senior officials from the Israeli Ministry of Health visited Ramallah for talks with their Palestinian counterparts. One of the issues discussed was that Israel would give the Palestinians 100,000 doses of vaccines from its national supply to vaccinate medical teams and people over the age of 60.