COVID-19, vaccines and deepening inequalities in the occupied Palestinian territory

The Britain-Palestine All Party Parliamentary Group hosted a briefing to discuss the COVID-19 pandemic, the vaccination situation and deepening inequality in the occupied Palestinian territory. Speakers from the WHO and humanitarian NGOs working on the ground, explored the challenges for the Palestinian health response; the issue of deepening poverty and health inequalities as a result of COVID-19; the legal obligations of Israel, the Palestinian authorities and international community in ensuring Palestinians can access vaccinations; and action the UK can take to help address the dire current situation. This was chaired by Dr Philippa Whitford MP.

You can watch the briefing here: 

About the speakers:

Dr Ben Bouquet is a medical doctor specialising in public health and working as a technical officer in public health and human rights for the World Health Organization in the occupied Palestinian territory.

Najla Shawa has more than 11 years of experience of working on humanitarian, relief and development programmes in Gaza. Since 2014, she has been working as a Food Security and Livelihoods Manager at Oxfam, managing the organisation's food security programme.

Rohan Talbot is the Advocacy and Campaigns Manager at Medical Aid for Palestinians, a developmental NGO working for the health and dignity of Palestinians living under occupation and as refugees.

Eitan Diamond is manager and senior legal expert at the Diakonia IHL Centre in Jerusalem. He previously worked as legal adviser to the ICRC Delegation in Israel and the Occupied Territories, as executive director of the human rights NGO Gisha, as a consultant for UNICEF and OHCHR and as research officer and legal adviser at the Israeli NGO B'tselem.