THREAD on the Palestinian territories & the vaccine: The Israeli government is facing criticism from human rights groups & international organisations for not extending the vaccination programme currently underway in Israel to the millions of Palestinians in the WB and Gaza 1/

Let’s just deal in some facts. The Israeli government is embarking on an unprecedented drive to become one of the first countries to vaccinate its entire population, including Arab citizens of Israel and Palestinians in East Jerusalem and in Israeli prisons. 2/

#Israel is receiving supplies from #Pfizer. In return, Israel has agreed to share its #vaccination data with the pharmaceutical company to help it ascertain how successful its COVID-19 vaccine will be in a real world environment. 3/

The argument from critics that Israel is carrying out “medical apartheid” is based upon Israel’s perceived international law obligations as an “occupying power” to vaccinate the Palestinian population in the West Bank and Gaza. 4/

However, the Oslo Accords, signed in the 1990s by Israel & the Palestinians, moved the relationship between them beyond the default occupier/occupied legal paradigm by creating the Palestinian Authority (PA) and giving it a range of autonomous powers. 5/