Recorded presentation

Alan F. Meyers, MD, MPH, Division of General Pediatrics, Boston Medical Center, 91 East Concord Street, Mat.Bldg., Rm 4205, Boston, MA 02118, (617)414-4719, afmeyers@bu.edu, Alice Rothchild, MD, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Harvard Vanguard Medical Associates, 185 Dartmouth Street, Boston, MA 02116, Jonathan Glazer Shaw, Harvard Medical School, Harvard University, 25 Shattuck St., Boston, MA 02115, Roman Torgovitsky, School of Public Health, Harvard University, 677 Huntington Ave, Boston, MA 02115, and Michal Seligman, PsyD, National Development and Research Institutes, Inc., 71 West 23 Street, 8 Floor, New York, NY 10010.

Four groups within the U.S. Jewish peace movement have formed the “Jewish American Medical Project (JAMP)” (www.vopj.org/jamp.htm), to provide technical assistance and educational exchange with colleagues in Palestine and Israel. In addition to offering medical aid, our goals are to better understand the health impact of the current Occupation on the Palestinian population; the effects of the conflict and of increased militarization on both societies; and to develop a way of discussing these findings in order to promote activism and peace. Working primarily with Physicians for Human Rights-Israel (PHR-Israel) and the Union of Palestinian Medical Relief Committees (UPMRC), JAMP volunteers provide clinical care to Palestinians living in the Occupied Territories; visit Israeli and Palestinian communities and health care facilities and interview health care workers, medical educators, and human rights workers; and conduct educational exchanges in the health disciplines. We also build support and recognition for the work of PHR-Israel, UPMRC, and other Israeli and Palestinian organizations working for health and human rights. JAMP members publicize their findings with the goal of mobilizing others, utilizing their identification as health care workers and Jewish Americans to broaden the discourse and level of tolerance within the American community, supporting a model that is based on humanizing the victims on all sides of the conflict and on understanding the cost of occupation to both societies. This presentation will include the findings of the 2004 JAMP delegations.

Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the session, the participant (learner) in this session will be able to

• identify avenues of collaboration with health care organizations in Israel and the Occupied Territories
• recognize how to present the reality of Occupation through the lens of public health as a means of communicating important information on a highly emotionally charged topic
• learn how to participate in the process of advancing health and human rights in Israel/Palestine

Keywords: Human Rights, War

Related Web page: www.vopj.org/jamp.htm

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.

Recorded presentation