Israel struggles to restore vaccine swap deal with Palestinians
Israeli officials are working to revive talks to deliver vaccine doses to the Palestinian Authority after a deal last Friday was suddenly called off by P.A. officials who said that the vaccines were too close to their expiration date and do not meet their standards.
Some 5 million Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza are still without sufficient vaccine supplies as shipments from other sources continue to lag even while their neighbor, Israel, is mostly returning to pre-pandemic life.
The announcement and abrupt cancellation of the deal has given rise to conspiracy theories and further damaged the low standing of the Palestinian Authority among its people.
On Friday, Israeli officials celebrated the finalization of the three-way deal between the two governments and Pfizer, by which Israel would ship more than 1 million doses of its vaccine to the Palestinian Authority, in exchange for a similar number of doses to be delivered back to Israel later this year.
Israeli officials signaled that the move marked the beginning of a chapter of re-engagement between Israel and the Palestinians after more than a decade under right-wing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Israeli Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz tweeted on Friday that the “vaccine exchange is in the interest of all parties” and that he hoped it would promote “cooperation between
Israel and her Palestinian neighbors.”
“Corona does not recognize borders or differentiate between peoples,” he added.
Hours later, however, Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh scrapped the deal, saying that the first shipment of some 100,000 Pfizer doses was due to expire at the end of the month and so too close to their expiration date.
At a news conference Friday evening, Palestinian Health Minister Mai alKaila said health officials who inspected the vaccines found they “did not meet standards and so we decided to return them.”
The Israeli Health Ministry said they would not accept returned doses and that if they were not used by the Palestinian Authority they would need to be thrown out.
The vaccine exchange had been in the works for several months under Netanyahu and it had been made clear to all sides that the first doses shipped out would be the first to expire, as is also protocol in Israel, said an Israeli official who spoke on the condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue.