Palestinians are calling for the establishment of an independent commission of inquiry into the Pfizer vaccine agreement between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
Despite the PA government’s decision late Friday to cancel the agreement, many Palestinians denounced the deal as a “big scandal” and called for holding those responsible to account.
Under the terms of the deal, announced on Friday morning, Israel would give more than one million soon-to-expire Pfizer doses to the PA. In return, Israel would receive later this year the same number of vaccines that were purchased by the PA.
Some Palestinians initially criticized the PA for striking the deal with Israel on the pretext that it was a form of “normalization with the Israeli occupation.”
But upon learning that the Israeli-supplied vaccines were about to expire, many Palestinians condemned the PA and accused it of “tampering” with the health of the Palestinian people.
The PA’s decision to cancel the deal has failed to calm many Palestinians.
Several Palestinians denounced the deal as a “political, health and moral scandal” and said that the vaccines could have endangered the lives of thousands of people.
“The vaccine exchange deal with the occupation authorities once again shows the lack of transparency in managing public affairs in general, and in managing the coronavirus pandemic in particular,” the Palestinian Coalition for Accountability and Integrity (AMAN) said in a statement. “It is illogical that the first source of information in an important issue related to the health of Palestinian citizens is the occupation. It is the responsibility of the Palestinian government, represented by the Ministry of Health, to announce the details of the deal before concluding it, in order to enhance the principle of transparency.”
The group urged the PA to announce the measures that will be taken against any official who neglected to verify the integrity of the deal, especially in light of Israel’s announcement that the vaccines would expire soon.
“AMAN expresses its concern about the impact of what happened around the vaccine deal on the extent of citizens’ confidence in the vaccine administration process in general, and on the process of citizens’ turnout to receive it,” the group added. Accordingly, AMAN demands the formation of an independent investigation committee, with the participation of representatives of civil society organizations, to investigate the merits of this deal.”
The Palestinian Health Professions Syndicate also called for an investigation into the “scandal,” noting that the deal sparked widespread criticism and controversy among Palestinians.
“What happened regarding the delivery of the vaccines [to the Palestinians] is strange and reprehensible,” the syndicate said in a statement. “This issue needs to be clarified.”
It called on PA President Mahmoud Abbas to form an independent investigation committee to look into the merits of the deal, present the findings to the people, and hold the negligent accountable.”
The Palestinian group National Democratic Forum condemned the deal as a “disgrace to the Palestinian decision-makers” and also demanded the formation of an independent investigation committee.
Palestinian political analyst Saleh al-Nuami said that the PA government decided to cancel the deal only after Palestinians discovered that the vaccines are about to expire. “The PA would not have backtracked on its shameful step were it not for the outrage expressed on social media,” he said.