Rival of Palestinian president delivers vaccines to Gaza
2.22.2021 Sharon Lee Davies-Tight
Nice job! If Netanyahu won’t do it and Abbas can’t because Netanyahu rules him, then maybe the new guy can. Smart move for United Arab Emirates to Trump Netanyahu who is using vaccines to barter for the release of prisoner(s) in Syria. Looks bad for Netanyahu to put innocent lives on the chopping block, especially in light of corruption charges against him and an on-going trial. The Issue of vaccines for prisoners never should have come up and where did the vaccines come from if not Israel?
And how was Dahlan able to make a deal with UAE when Abbas couldn’t?
Regardless of how and under what circumstances the vaccines arrive, the Palestinians still need many more vaccines and it is up to the occupying forces to provide them, not after all Israelis have been injected, but simultaneously.
Netanyhahu argues that his first responsibility is to Israeli citizens. In saying that he’s suggesting that Palestinians could get the vaccine if they all became citizens of Israel and give up their aspirations of a separate state. Well, if Israel doesn’t recognize Palestine as a separate Palestinian state, yet Jews control every facet of Palestinian life, even if on paper they don’t, it is up to the Jews to provide the vaccine. In terms of healthcare Jews need to stand with the rest of the world and become borderless.
Hey, if Jews can ban a documentary on Jenin written from the Palestinian perspective, then they can ban vaccines to Palestine.
Egypt needs to get off the fence and show some respect to Palestine. Open the border. What’s Netanyhu afraid of, that all the Palestinians will leave? Isn’t that what the Jews want to create their Jewish majority on Palestinian land?
ARTICLE:
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — A shipment of coronavirus vaccines arranged by a rival of President Mahmoud Abbas arrived in the Gaza Strip on Sunday, giving a lift to the blockaded territory’s vaccination efforts and embarrassing the Palestinian leader ahead of national elections.
The 20,000 doses of Russia’s Sputnik V, donated by the United Arab Emirates and organized by Abbas rival Mohammed Dahlan, entered the Palestinian enclave through its border with Egypt. A container truck with a huge banner of Emirati leaders and a thank-you message passed through Rafah crossing point in the southern Gaza Strip.
The delivery came days after the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority, chaired by Abbas, managed to deliver only 2,000 doses of the same vaccine type to Gaza via Israel, which had delayed the shipment for a few days. Sunday’s delivery appeared to be aimed in part at making Abbas’ government appear ineffective.
Dahlan, a former senior member of Abbas’ Fatah party, has been living in exile in Abu Dhabi since a falling out with the Palestinian leader in 2011.
Gaza has been ruled by the Islamic militant group Hamas since 2007, when it seized control of the territory from Abbas’ forces.
Together, the vaccines are enough for 11,000 people, a tiny fraction of Gaza’s 2 million people. The Hamas-run Health Ministry said the vaccination drive will begin Monday with frontline medical workers and “honorary dignitaries.”
It estimated that Gaza needs 2.6 million doses to inoculate people 16 and older.
Dahlan, a former security chief from Abbas’ Fatah party, was forced to flee Gaza during the 2007 Hamas takeover. But in recent years, he has mended ties with the group thanks to their shared animosity toward Abbas.
The Palestinians plan to hold what would be their first parliamentary elections in 15 years in May. The vaccine deliveries are likely to improve the standing of Dahlan and his Fatah splinter group, called the Democratic Reform Bloc, in the vote.
Abbas has blocked Dahlan from running in the polls, but his group members are planning to compete, positioning them as a possible kingmaker in the election between Hamas and Fatah.
Gaza’s health authorities have reported more than 54,000 coronavirus infections and 543 deaths.
Israel has faced international criticism for largely excluding Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Gaza from its highly successful vaccination campaign.
Rights groups say it has an obligation as an occupying power to share its vaccines with the Palestinians. Israel captured east Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza in the 1967 war, territories the Palestinians want for their future state.
Israel denies having such an obligation and says its priority are its own citizens, as well as Palestinians in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem. It says the Palestinian Authority is responsible for health care in the territories it administers according to interim peace agreements.
Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005, but has maintained a blockade with Egypt over the territory in an effort it says is meant to prevent Hamas from arming.
Source: Rival of Palestinian president delivers vaccines to Gaza
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