Another side

In the Jan. 26 letter “One-sided Story,” the writer shows anti-Israel bias and information that is somewhat less than factual.

The letter states, “Gazans honor 78 children killed at the [border] fence since March 2018.” The writer fails to mention that Gazans were rioting at the fence during that time and doesn’t ask the question as to why parents would take their kids there and place them in harm’s way. Many Gazans boarded buses to get there and were paid $100 for participating.

The letter also mentions 45,000 COVID-19 cases in Gaza and reports by B’tselem on human rights. Much has been written about this group in the last couple of weeks and they have a couple of representatives in the U.S. House on board with their claims about Israel not vaccinating Palestinians.

Is B’tselem really a human rights organization? It is often absent from major human rights conferences and its staff list does not contain one lawyer or a legal department. How can it issue reports on international law when it doesn’t have a legal team?

Nor are vaccinations of Palestinians Israel’s responsibility. The Oslo agreements between the Palestinian Authority (PA) and Israel state in Article 17, Health:

1. Powers and responsibilities in the sphere of health in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip will be transferred to the Palestinian side.

2. The Palestinian side shall continue to apply the present standards of vaccination of Palestinians.

The PA broke off all communication with Israel in February 2020. Last month, the PA announced it was getting 4 million doses of the Russian vaccine and this month stated AstraZeneca would provide an additional 2 million doses. Nor has the PA asked Israel for help.

In the meantime, Israel offers vaccinations to all its citizens, whether they be of Israeli or Palestinian descent and whether they be Christian, Druse, Jewish or Muslim. I guess you could say the letter really was one-sided. STUART V. PAVILACK

Executive Director Zionist Organization of America: Pittsburgh

Point Breeze