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The incendiary claim that Israel has deliberately damaged the health of the Palestinians of the West Bank and Gaza Strip is not evidence-based, argues Dr. David Stone. In fact, the opposite is true: the health of the Palestinians has improved steadily since 1967. Stone maps a cluster of changes – in demography, crude death rates, life expectancy, infant mortality, as well as maternal, perinatal, under-five mortality, immunisation coverage, nutrition and infant growth patterns, primary and secondary health care, and the Israeli influence on ‘the causes of the causes’ of ill health (housing, water, education, employment) – to show that Israeli policies have brought about measurable improvements in Palestinian health and welfare. This was achieved, in the face of formidable obstacles, by a variety of means including an outstanding child immunization programme, the launching of need-responsive innovations in primary care (crucially including maternal and child health services), a large hospital development programme, collaborative modes of working with Palestinian professionals, UNRWA and NGOs, and – arguably even more important – providing high quality training for doctors, nurses and other health providers in Israeli institutions thereby bringing modern standards to anaesthesia, renal dialysis, cardiac surgery and many other critically important fields.
Dr Stone’s paper can be read in full here: Has Israel damaged Palestinian health?
Our Voice of the Week is General John Allen, recently appointed Special Presidential Envoy for the Global Coalition to Counter ISIL talking at the Woodrow Wilson Center, ‘Can We Ultimately Defeat ISIL?’
Our Image of the Week is of Palestinian militants from the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades burning coffins with Israeli flags and effigies depicting Israelis during a rally to commemorate the 27th anniversary of Hamas’s creation, at the Nuseirat refugee camp in the Central Gaza Strip on 12 December 2014. Photo by Abed Rahim Khatib/ Flash90.
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