Recorded presentation

Alice Rothchild, MD, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Harvard Vanguard Medical Associates, 185 Dartmouth Street, Boston, MA 02116, 617-859-5250, dkar@rcn.com, Alan F. Meyers, MD, MPH, Division of General Pediatrics, Boston Medical Center, 91 East Concord Street, Mat.Bldg., Rm 4205, Boston, MA 02118, 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.

In January 2004, a delegation from the Jewish American Medical Project visited the West Bank in collaboration with the Union of Palestinian Medical Relief Committees (UPMRC) and Physicians for Human Rights-Israel. Working in fixed and mobile clinics, delegation members provided clinical care and gathered data from primary sources. Throughout the Occupied Territories (OT), the system of checkpoints, roadblocks, and the separation barrier being constructed within the West Bank by the government of Israel (“internal closure”) comprise the most serious obstacle to the population’s access to health care, including primary, secondary, tertiary, and emergency care, as well as a major contributor to economic crisis, social disruption, and stress-associated physical and psychological morbidity. The right of health personnel to serve the civilian population is violated continuously by the Israeli military and was experienced directly by delegation members. From September 2000 through January 2004, there have been 52 documented cases of women delivering newborns at checkpoints when they were forbidden passage en route to hospital within the OT, resulting in 19 maternal and 27 neonatal deaths. UPMRC reports that 100 other patients have died as a consequence of ambulances being detained at checkpoints. Gross domestic product in the OT has dropped by half in the three years of tightened “internal closure”, and if construction of the separation barrier continues as planned, some 10-15% of the population of the West Bank will be confined in enclaves, isolated from land, water, community, and health services, with unknown consequences for their health and welfare.

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

• Describe the system of "internal closure" imposed by the Israeli military on the population of the Occupied Territories
• Discuss the effects of "internal closure" on the health status of the population of the Occupied Territories
• Identify violations of medical neutrality in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict

Keywords: War, Human Rights

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