PHR CAMPAIGNS

PHR Library

June 16, 1993

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Human Rights on Hold - Health Care in the Occupied Territories 1990-1992

Media Contacts:
Nathaniel Raymond info@phrusa.org Tel: (617) 301-4200

Expressing alarm at current reports that the prolonged military occupation in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem has endangered the lives of residents with chronic diseases and acute medical emergencies, Physicians for Human Rights (PHR), the Boston-based medical human rights organization, charged today, in a study based on over two years of research, that Israeli military and security forces have systematically compromised access to health care since the beginning of the Palestinian Intifada, causing serious and often long-lasting health consequences.

The 137-page report, Human Rights on Hold: A Report on Emergency Measures and Access to Health Care in the Occupied Territories, documents ongoing violations committed by the Israeli military and security forces, including excessive use of force, beatings, indiscriminate shootings, widespread and inappropriate use of toxic gas, forced entry, curfews, infringement on freedom of movement of health personnel, and obstruction of access to health care.

PHR further stated that, with the March 29, 1993 closure of the Gaza Strip and northern and southern portions of the West Bank from Israel and Israeli-occupied East Jerusalem, violations at the hands of the Israeli occupation soldiers, as documented in the study, continue unabated.

"The Israeli government's recent closure of the Occupied Territories and, by extension, the restrictions it places on access to critical medical care services for many Palestinians, underscores the government's continuing disregard of its obligations as an "occupying power" under the Hague Regulations of 1907 and the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949," said Dr. Jennifer Leaning, a PHR Board Member and instructor at Harvard Medical School who participated in fact-finding investigations in the Territories in 1990 and in 1988.

PHR bases its charges on studies carried out in the Occupied Territories by two PHR research teams in 1990 and 1991 and additional information compiled over the last two years. In the first study, conducted in July 1990, a team of four physicians surveyed 24 families chosen by random sampling in five refugee camps or villages, three in the West Bank and two in Gaza on the cumulative effects of violations directed against families in refugee camps.

"Findings from random sampling of specific household units enabled PHR's researchers to raise concern about implications for the larger refugee populations and inquire into broad patterns of human rights violations, resulting in a unique and disturbing archive of data on the occupation and its impact on the health rights of Palestinians," said Dr. Leaning.

The second study, conducted in May 1991, investigated the health consequences of the Gulf War curfew, particularly its effect in obstructing the access to health care of Palestinians. The study incorporates interviews from a stratified group of 44 families.

Both studies found that Israeli occupation forces widely used toxic gas ("tear gas"), and all families interviewed by the first team reported exposure to the gas, which caused acute injuries and, in some cases, death. The majority of families in both studies reported forced entry of homes (in most cases, more than once) by Israeli troops-- entries were often coupled with destruction of property, humiliations, and beatings. Some of these beatings often resulted in bone fractures, and, in a few cases, permanent disability. Of half of the families interviewed in the first study, soldiers shot and injured at least one relative since the beginning of the Intifada.

During the Gulf War, when no Palestinians could move freely without a pass, Israeli authorities refused to provide passes to 70 percent of the medical professionals and health care workers, effectively barring them from visiting patients or going to work at hospitals and clinics. Clinics and pharmacies were closed down and, in dozens of cases, soldiers entered medical facilities and disrupted services. Ambulance services were repeatedly disrupted and at least one ambulance driver was fatally shot.

Now, violations and restrictions documented over the past two years continue in the Territories. The current closure has restricted the provision of health care services to emergency and critically ill patients in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. According to the Union of Palestinian Medical Relief Committees (UPMRC), cancer patients requiring regular chemotherapy in Israeli hospitals are not allowed to enter Israel. Delays and high refusal rates for permits have kept many Palestinians from reaching hospitals for needed medical care. Applicants generally have to wait from a minimum of three hours up to 24 hours to receive passes. Only a few UPMRC physicians have been issued permits to enter Jerusalem, and then for only four to five days.

Without entry to East Jerusalem, Palestinians have been denied access to Augusta-Victoria hospital, a secondary and tertiary care hospital for registered refugees, run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA); Maqassed Hospital, the largest and most advanced hospital servicing the Occupied Territories; and St. John's Hospital, the only ophthalmological hospital servicing the Territories.

Israeli soldiers continue to enter clinics and other medical institutions forcibly, violating their neutrality and interfering with health care delivery.

"At a minimum, the Israeli government should lift all travel restrictions on physicians and other health professionals and emergency and critically-ill patients to put an end to this outright breach of international and humanitarian law," said Dr. Leaning.

The physicians group also insisted that the Israeli occupation forces cease and desist from beatings, shootings, forced entry of homes, and other acts against civilians which seriously violate the rights of the occupied population.

In January 1993, PHR sent an advance copy of the report to the Israeli Government and requested comment and information on policy measures that may have been taken since the study was completed that prevent the abuses described from recurring. A two-page response was received on May 26, 1993 from the Embassy of Israel in Washington D.C. It is published in an appendix to the report. PHR has noted, in the preface to the report, the inadequacies of the response, including the failure to describe any preventive or remedial measures.

Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) is an organization of physicians and other health professionals that brings the knowledge and skills of the medical sciences to the investigation and prevention of violations of international human rights and humanitarian law. H. Jack Geiger, M.D. is President, Eric Stover is Executive Director, Susannah Sirkin is Deputy Director, Shana Swiss, M.D. is director of the Women's Program, Barbara Ayotte is Senior Program Associate and Gina VanderLoop is Development Director.

Table of Contents
Human Rights on Hold: A Report on Emergency Measures and Access to Health Care in the Occupied Territories 1990-1992

Preface
Acknowledgments
Executive Summary

I. Introduction

II. PHR Survey of Families in Refugee Camps

III. The Curfew and the Gulf War

IV. Recent Developments and Conclusions

Appendices

Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) mobilizes the health professions to advance the health and dignity of all people by protecting human rights. As a founding member of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, PHR shared the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize.

Date posted: October 10, 2006

Last updated: May 27, 2010

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