State Accountability for the Good Health of Palestinians Has Failed: What Can the Global Health Community Do Next?

• Type of Material: Article
• Authors: Mohammed Alkhaldi, Najah National University; Rachel Coghlan, Deakin University; Simon Miller, Independent human rights lawyer; Aisha AL Basuoni, Gaza Community Mental Health Programme; Osama Tanous, Emory University; Yara M. Asi, University of Central Florida
• Language: English
• Date: 2022-06-01
• Publisher: HARVARD UNIV PRESS
• Publication Version: Final Published Version
• Copyright Statement: © 2022 Alkhaldi, Coghlan, Miller, Al Basuoni, Tanous, Asi.
• License: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International
• Title of Journal or Parent Work: HEALTH AND HUMAN RIGHTS
• Volume: 24
• Issue: 1
• Start Page: 77
• End Page: 84
• Keywords: Science & Technology; CARE; Public, Environmental & Occupational Health; Life Sciences & Biomedicine
• Research Categories: Health Sciences, Public Health

Abstract

In early June 2021, Scientific American published a statement by health care workers, calling on health care systems, academic institutions, and health care professionals in the United States to “unequivocally condemn Israel’s long-standing oppression of the Palestinian people” and the ongoing decimation of their health.1 Similar statements were issued by other health professional groups.2 These statements of solidarity with the Palestinian people came following the May 2021 deadly bombings in the Gaza Strip and violence in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and amid a shifting global recognition of the realities of systemic discrimination, racism, and settler colonialism against Palestinians in the occupied Palestinian territories (oPt) and Israel. Around the world, awareness has been growing of the illegal and immoral crimes committed against Palestinians by Israeli government policies, soldiers, and settlers, and of the impacts on health resulting from persistent oppression amid this profound power disparity.