To the editor:
In "Palestinians in West Bank Still Wait for First Dose," The New York Times pretends there's a "fiery debate" over what it calls Israeli "ensuring the health of Palestinians in occupied territory." It uses the fact that most Arabs in the Palestinian Authority have yet to be vaccinated as a club in unfairly casting aspersions on Israel.
Typically, it ignores the fact that the so-called "occupation" ended nearly three decades ago and, under Article 17 of Annex III to the Israeli-Palestinian Interim Agreement on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, which the Palestinian Arabs signed way back in 1995 but routinely flout, the Palestinian Authority assumed full responsibility for providing health services, including vaccinations, to all Arabs living in the disputed territories.
Israel has no more responsibility for vaccinating the Arab residents in those areas than the United States has for vaccinating Canadians, although admittedly there are some differences, including the facts that Canadians aren't consistently firing rockets at Americans, the Canadian government doesn't have a pay-to-slay policy rewarding terrorists and their families for murdering innocent Americans, and Canada's political parties don't have provisions in their charters calling for the destruction of the United States.
Meanwhile, in Israel, most of us are also still waiting for our first vaccination even as the infection rate remains at near record levels, as are most New Yorkers. Does The New York Times believe Israel also bears responsibility for Mayor de Blasio's shortcomings?
Sincerely,
Alan Stein