H.E. Dr. Jilan Abdalmajid:

More than 300,000 cases of Covid-19 have been detected in Palestine and more than 3,000 people have died. For a period, the vaccination programme was problematic because the Israelis vaccinated their people. As Israel is responsible for the occupied territories, they have a legal responsibility over the vaccination of my people. However, Israel rejected all of the calls by the international community to abide by these agreements. We managed to get vaccines from Russia and China. We have also signed agreements with AstraZeneca and other international companies to provide vaccines. We are with the COVAX scheme, which has promised to vaccinate 20% of the Palestinian people. In the meantime, vaccinations have started in Gaza. The Emirates have directly donated some vaccines to Gaza and vaccinations are under way in the West Bank.

Israel vaccinated the Palestinian labour force who cross the border daily. However, in Gaza, only 2.5% of the people were vaccinated while in the West Bank it was 7%. An increasing number of people are being vaccinated. Both of my parents are aged over 75 and they received the Russian vaccine. The people themselves still doubt vaccines. Like many others, sometimes they do not believe in vaccines, which was a problem. There is a sufficient supply of vaccines. Vaccines arrive from time to time so we are in the process of vaccinating most of our people according to WHO rules. The vaccination programme is working well but we are behind with between 60% to 70% of the population to be vaccinated.

Regarding dialogue, I shall start by talking about the state of Palestine. We signed the Oslo agreement in 1993. I know that it is not the goal in all of the minds and dreams of Palestinians but the agreement was our first step to move forward as Palestine. In 2012, the UN recognised the state of Palestine and that is strong recognition. We have joined many international organisations. Without signing the Rome Statute, we could not join the International Criminal Court. Now, an investigation of the war crimes against us is starting. Without this we could not move on so I really disagree with the professor but respect what has been said. This is the case for the recognition of the state of Palestine and nothing has happened. We are suffering since 1948 and 1967, and now with another nakba in Sheikh Jarrah, yet still the Palestinians could say their words. In East Jerusalem, the people are defending the Al-Aqsa mosque and defending their right to exist in East Jerusalem as a part of Palestine.

Regarding dialogue, with whom? The problem is that Israel is an extremist government that does not recognise the rights of Palestinians. The international community have tried to facilitate dialogue but rights have been oppressed and the Palestinian people have been under oppression since 1967 and that continues. We talked to the Israelis. We sat at the table, negotiated and signed the Oslo agreement, which recommended that after five years we could talk about the final status of the water, refugees and Jerusalem but we have not got anywhere since.

If you want to have dialogue, you need to have at least equal parts. Recognising the state of Palestine is one of the things that will strengthen our position in any future dialogue or negotiation with the Israelis. We are not only focused on the recognition of Palestine but also on the rights of the Palestinian people. However, if it is ignored, it will not be easy to sit with people who ignore our right to exist.

I will hand over to Professor Erakat or Dr. Power to comment on the other questions.