WEST BANK (Dispatches) – The Zionist regime’s attempt to swap soon-to-expire Covid-19 vaccines with a future shipment of Pfizer doses earmarked for Palestinians in the occupied West Bank has sparked outrage on social media.
On Friday, the Palestinian Authority (PA) called off plans to receive one million expiring vaccines, just hours after the deal was struck.
PA spokesman Ibrahim Melhem announced the cancellation at a joint press conference with Minister of Health Mai Alkaila, stating that the initial doses that were sent did not meet agreed-upon specifications.
The occupying regime was clear that the vaccine doses were to “expire soon” when the deal was agreed, but did not publicly specify a date.
After receiving the first shipment, the Palestinians said the doses were set to expire sooner than they expected.
The swap attempt has since been described as “inhumane” and “racist” by social media users, who have denounced it as a cynical PR attempt by the Zionist regime.
“What is more cynical and twisted than giving the people you oppress and occupy nearly expired vaccines so you can get their new vaccines later in the year,” said Salem Barahmeh, executive director of the Palestine Institute for Public Diplomacy.
“Palestinians were demanding vaccines for months, but Israel equates us with its discard pile. It sees us as lesser than human.”
Hanan Ashrawi, a former Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) executive committee member, accused the Zionist regime of “racism and corruption” for using “Palestine as a dumping ground for expired vaccines”.
Mohammed al-Kurd, a Palestinian activist in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of occupied east al-Quds, said in a thread of tweets on Saturday that the shipment was falsely being framed as an act of humanitarian goodwill.
“This isn’t a charity. The occupation authorities will take over the PA’s incoming shipment of perfectly good vaccines. They’re not doing us a favor,” al-Kurd said.
“Were we not living under brutal colonialism, we wouldn’t need colonizer-provided healthcare. This shipment of vaccines is entirely too many months too late,” he added.
“Even if the vax weren’t expired… even if Israelis cured every cancer ever, the material reality doesn’t change: Zionist colonialism and military rule continue to destabilize and destroy our physical and psychological health.”
Under international law, occupying powers are responsible for the health care of the population they control.