Foot-and-Mouth Disease Adds to Woes of West Bank

Israel transferred 220,000 vaccinations against foot-and-mouth disease to the Palestinians on Sunday as the two sides accused each other of cynically manipulating the issue for political purposes.

Announcing the dispatch of the vaccines, spokesman Peter Lerner of the Israeli Civil Administration said: “We see it as a mutual interest. The diseases don’t know the difference between borders . . . and this is the main reason why Israel is participating in this step.”

The Palestinian Authority said it had discovered four cases of the disease in an outbreak near the West Bank city of Ramallah but that an Israeli blockade was preventing it from tackling the situation.

Israeli officials said the Palestinians were manipulating the matter to draw attention to the Israeli blockade in the absence of laboratory testing to confirm veterinary assessments.

The highly infectious disease is common in the Middle East, and the Palestinian Authority has made no link with the outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in Britain and France.

“We have confirmed four cases in Ramallah in sheep and suspect that there are more in other districts among sheep and cattle,” said Mohammed Hassouneh, the director general of Palestinian veterinary services. “But due to the closure, we can’t reach the flocks and herds to vaccinate and inspect.”

On Friday, Palestinian officials said the disease was found in cows and goats.

Lt. Col. Yarden Vatikay, a spokesman for the military-run Israeli Civil Administration that oversees Israeli-controlled areas of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, rejected the claim. “They’re blaming Israel for denying access for medical treatment for the cows, which is a complete lie. . . . They are blaming Israel and using these cases as propaganda and lies against Israel,” Vatikay said.

Meanwhile on Sunday, Palestinians fired three mortar shells at the Israeli farming community of Nahal Oz near Gaza in the first such attack on Israeli territory during the nearly 6-month-old Palestinian uprising, the army said. A soldier was wounded.

A Palestinian security source denied Palestinians had mortars in their arsenal.

In the West Bank today, an Israeli motorist was shot dead on a road, a security source said.

“There is one person dead near Neve Daniel on the road between Jerusalem and Gush Etzion,” the Israeli security source said, referring to the West Bank road. The driver was fired at by Palestinian gunmen, the source said.