These Days While the Country Is Burning

We share a letter written by our partner Physicians for Humans Rights – Israel and we, too, wish for quiter and safer times ahead for everyone. 

Dear friends

In these turbulent moments, we want to sound a clear and unequivocal call for protecting human rights.

Over the past several days we have witnessed severe damage to the lives, bodies and souls, property, and rights of Palestinians living under Israeli control. We have witnessed a massive barrage of rockets over towns and cities in Israel, which has already claimed lives, and we have witnessed hate crimes against Israelis and Palestinians which have taken a heavy emotional and physical toll.

The right to health is first and foremost the right to life; no individual, group, or nation would stand by while their lives are overlooked, treated as inferior to the lives of others. In times such as these, we must uphold the basic rules of human rights and medical ethics. It is important to ensure the neutrality of the medical staff. We are obligated to protect medical workers and their freedom of movement in order to ensure their ability to care for the wounded. Institutional security forces must respect the right of citizens to protest and refrain from using violence, and all armed forces in the region must refrain from harming civilians – both Israeli and Palestinian. And we must all refrain from being swept up by hate crimes and incitement, and instead work together to effect fundamental change.

For decades, Palestinians have lived under Israeli control in its various forms – including aspects of apartheid and colonialism – in Gaza, the West Bank, and Israel. This reality, in which both Israeli and Palestinian societies are part of an oppressive segregation regime with incitement coming from the highest ranks, has led a boiling point and to a loss of faith in the possibility of a truly equal and safe shared future.

These events, the expulsion of families from their homes in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of Jerusalem, the violation of the freedom of worship during the holy month of Ramadan for Muslims, police violence against demonstrators across the country, violence at the Al-Aqsa Mosque, including attacks on worshippers and medical staff, and violent attacks on Israeli Jewish citizens, are expressions and consequences of profound injustice, an original sin that has never been recognized and has never been addressed – the sin of dispossession and the supremacy of one people over another. This takes the form of valuing some lives over others, discriminatory legislation, and unequal access to spiritual, cultural and economic resources.

Unfortunately, the short-sightedness and deliberately destructive policies of Israeli decision-makers have brought about the escalation we are currently in the midst of, and the suffering that has been inflicted on both peoples. We demand that decision-makers come to their senses and do everything possible to prevent further harm and to stop the cycle of bereavement, suffering, and pain.

We are in constant contact with our partners in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, in southern Israel, and in Israeli and Palestinian civil society. We spoke up to the Israeli authorities following the attack on Al-Aqsa, and we will work to ensure that the health system in Gaza, which suffers from a severe lack of resources, can cope with the attacks. We will try to meet the rising needs in the south and in Israel in general, and we will continue our humanitarian activities in the Mobile Clinic and in the Open Clinic.

As medical professionals responsible for treating the physically and mentally wounded, we are all too aware of the price paid by victims of violence and hatred. We know that this is a price that even a wounded, divided society pays, and we know how long and difficult the recovery will be. Ending the violence is a necessary and basic condition for creating the safe space for the recovery process that we all need.

With hope for quieter days ahead,
The Board of Directors and Staff of Physicians for Human Rights Israel (PHRI)