Palestine: the assault on health and other war crimes
BMJ 2004; 329 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.329.7471.924 (Published 14 October 2004) Cite this as: BMJ 2004;329:924All rapid responses
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Mr Oyama: you are incorrect about US support for Israel in 1948. The
United States had an arms embargo on Israel, during its war of
independence, in 1948 and 1949. As far as the inequities of land
distirbution, are concerned, did you know that one million Jews were
expelled from Arab and Moslem countries since the birth of Israel?? The
ancestors of these Jews had always lived in the middle east. They had to
leave Egypt, Lebanon, Afganistan, Libya, Iraq, Yemen Aden, Iran, Tunisia,
Syria with only the clothes on their back. Most of them were absorbed by
the State of Israel. Others went to France, which they are now forced to
flee again. This was an exchange of populations similar to what took place
between India and Pakistan, Japan and Korea, Poland and Germany,and Turkey
and Greece at the conclusion of WWII. Only the Arabs of Palestine were not
settled. They were kept in refugee camps as the vanguard of the Arab
campaign to destroy Israel. When Israel atempted to build new apartments
in 1973 in Gaza, to re-settle those in refugee camps, it was condemned in
the UN. The PLO threatened to kill any Arab who dared move into the
apartments. Benny Morris's books are filled with misinformation. Please
see "Fabricating Israeli History"by the historian Efraim Karsh and
exchanges between Karsh and Morris in Commentary Magazine and Middle East
Quarterly. Please also see the contradictory and absurd positions taken by
Morris in his recent interview in Haaretz. In conclusion Mr Oyama if you
are looking for real atrocities, don't look at Israel's attempt to defend
itself. Instead I would suggest you read "The Rape of Nanking;The
Forgotten Holocaust of WWII" by Iris Chang.
Competing interests:
None declared
Competing interests: No competing interests
Dear Dr. Jacob Amir,
I'm a Japanese engineer interested in the Middle East conflicts. I'm
deeply sorry that Japan collaborated with Nazi Germany in World War II.
The number of the Holocaust victims increased because of my country.
Dr. Jacob Amir wrote, "In 1947, the Jews in Palestine accepted the UN
partition plan. The Arabs did not."
I believe the UN partition plan - the UN Resolution 181 in 1947 was
the greatest injustice forced on Palestinians. It should be noted the
content of the UN Partition Plan.
The population of Jewish people in Palestine was one-third of all the
population in Palestine. The population of Arab people was two-third.
[http://www.passia.org/palestine_facts/MAPS/Distribution_of_population.htm]
Less than 7 percent of Palestine was owned by the Jewish people. 48
percent of the land was owned by the Arab people. The other 45 percent was
owned by public. The majority of the public was Arab people.
[http://www.passia.org/palestine_facts/MAPS/Zionist_and_Palestinian_lando...
The UN partition plan gives 55 percent of the land except Jerusalem
to the Jewish state and 45 percent to the Arab state. Even Beersheba area
including almost no Jewish population was planned to be included in the
Jewish state. It was easy for the Jewish people owning only 7 percent of
the land to accept the plan. It was extremely difficult for the Arab
people to accept the plan.
The nations with racism against Arab people, the communist nation
that confiscated lands from the landowners and gave them to the landless
people, and powerless nations imposed by the superpowers supported the
resolution. The United States of America arm twisted the arms of dozens of
small nations to get their support for the partitioning of Palestine.
(Benny Morris, Righteous Victims, p.184)
The worst criminal was not Arab countries but the USA and the USSR.
They made the resolution without asking what the local inhabitants
thought.
I really hope the great injustice forced on Palestinians will be
compensated by the world, especially the USA and the UK though I know the
compensation will be extremely difficult.
Best Regards,
Hideaki Oyama
Competing interests:
None declared
Competing interests: No competing interests
As a ‘personal view’ this should not be criticised on the grounds
that it is a personal view and not more views; nor should the editor be
criticised for publishing it.
I continue to support the publication of personal views and trust
that the BMJ will keep them personal.
Peter Bruggen (retired psychiatrist
Competing interests:
None declared
Competing interests: No competing interests
I do not get what all the fuss is about coming from many of these Pro
-Zionist authors responding to Dr. Summerfields post? What he/she said is
totally true..Does the truth hurt? I stayed in the ghettos of Palestine
for a year or two with other American friends of mine. Many of these
people who are responding to Dr. summerfields posts either have never been
to the ghettos created by Israel known as Palestine or really dont want
the truth to be known? Many people are also sick and tired of hearing the
same line told over and over again by many proZionists followers about
"Jews being pushed into the Sea".....If this were true (whish isnt)does
this mere statmenet negate the fact that Israel single handedly broke
hundreds of human rights violations known to man? I along with 10 other
friends from all over the States decided we wanted to witness for
ourselves what goes on in the West Bank, and to our horror we realized
that what happens in the West Bank stays in the West Bank. As typical
Americans we were horrified to learn that the media in the States never
tries to pick up all the human rights viloations being done by the Israeli
soldiers. We have wintessed women dying while given birth at checkpoints
at 2AM...We have witnessed illegal acts of collective punishment by razing
Palestinian homes (how would you like your home to be demolished because
your sister, brother, cousin etc broke the law?) How would you like your
home to be taken away to be given to russian immigrants and no matter how
loud you scream you will never be heard...How would you like to be
confined to your city or suburb and cant go to the nearby store to get
your kids food at 10 pm because the police closed the checkpoints.... How
would you like it if your old aged parents were harrassed at checkpoints
and stripped just to amuse the soldiers? How would you like to be totally
confined to your city or suburb and never be let out to other nearby
cities or suburbs unless you are 70 years of age? and I do mean never
unless you are granted by the Israeli Authorities an almost non existent
travelling visa just to cross to the other side to get to school or work
or even to the doctor? So instead of attacking people telling the truth
answer these simple questions, tell me if you can live this type of
everyday life..If you thought life was sometimes boring and depressing I
am sorry my friend you havent lived the Palestinian life at the hands of
the Israeli government. And if your still not convinced, then do what my
friends and I did, go and stay in the West Bank for a few months and
witness it yourself; if you dare to know the truth that is...
Competing interests:
American witness
Competing interests: No competing interests
The Editor
I am an Israeli doctor who abhors the death of each innocent civilian who
has died in the Israeli- Palestinian conflict and was keen to read Derek
Sommerfield’s article, Personal View, Oct 16th 2004. Unfortunately this
one sided opinion piece does not accurately or adequately portray the
enormously complex situation which exists here and continues to cause
great suffering to both sides. The BMJ is not the appropriate forum to
address the veracity of many of his claims.
However I do think that it is pertinent to express concern at the
suggestion that Dr Blachar, the head of the Israeli Medical Association
(IMA) not be allowed to serve on the World Medical Association council.
As an active member of Physicians for Human Rights, Israel, I support the
Israeli medical establishment’s taking a more public role in stressing
humanitarian and medical concerns in times of conflict and am aware of
criticisms that have been levelled at the IMA.
However, it would be a grave mistake and a dangerous precedence to
exclude a physician from international forum on the basis of their
nationality. Such a policy goes counter to the idea that medicine is
supposed to cross borders and political and religious divides. Within the
Israeli medical system I have worked with Arabs and Jews, Palestinians and
Israelis, Christians and Muslims, both as my patients and as my
colleagues. . Israeli doctors have the potential to contribute much to
international forums, coming from a country with an outstanding medical
tradition that has a a strong emphasis on medical ethics. For the
international medical community to seek to isolate doctors in Israel would
be tragic and unjust and belies so much of what medicine can achieve.
Competing interests:
None declared
Competing interests: No competing interests
Israel gave final resting place to that arch British swindler Robert
Maxwell. It thus seems a tad churlish to deny Yasser Arafat a burial in
Jerusalem. I didn’t think this double standard of American proportion
should go unmentioned, even if it will be ignored as usual.
Competing interests:
None declared
Competing interests: No competing interests
I would like to thank all those involved in publishing this BMJ
article and for helping Dr Sommerfield put forward the facts. It is
saddening to see that many have the view to restricting the journal to
institutional medicine without the bigger picture. But likewise it is
pleasing to see the truth in the open and that doctors are involved in
this! With compliments to all supporters of truth even if it be against
themselves.
Competing interests:
None declared
Competing interests: No competing interests
It has been estimated that Yasser Arafat's personal fortune amounts
to US$ 6 billion (The Times, 8th November). This is money which would be
sufficient to have provided Palestinians with the best health care service
in the world.
The accrual of this fortune by Arafat represents a double betrayal -
firstly to the Palestinian people, who deserve better, and secondly to
donor countries and organisations who assumed (naively) that their aid
would be used for appropriate humanitarian reasons rather than lining the
pockets of the Palestinian leadership.
If this debate is to be about health rather than politics, this crime
of ommision against the Palestinian people is something that cannot go
unmentioned (even if it is sadly ignored as I expect it will be).
Competing interests:
None declared
Competing interests: No competing interests
Your acknowledgement of the oppression that the Palestinians live
under is the best possible step to take towards any real healing of the
situation. You rightly point out that media coverage tends to give the
impression that all that is happening is suicide bombing by Palestinian
militants. The constant demonisation of Palestinians and brushing aside of
all Israeli wrongdoing only serves to deepen the wound and the anger. The
Israeli authorities and their blind supporters have encouraged the entire
world to regard Palestinians as less than human, people that do not
deserve rights. Any facts that may indicate otherwise are studiously
ignored or even "debunked" as anti-Semitic, often with breathtaking
mendacity. Militant extremists justify their actions on the assumtion
that the rest of the Western world happily goes along with this. Until
such times as this oppression, and this traducing, starts to roll back,
what hope is there for Palestinians? They are like the walking dead. What
can we expect from their youth, shot by snipers, deprived of education,
all attempts at national identity and culture crushed, malnourished,
collectively punished, harassed, intimidated, humiliated. Do we expect
them all to lie down curl up and die (after having made their wills out to
Israeli settlers)?
This is a situation that desperately needs the disinfectant of
sunlight and fresh air. Those who believe that to be Good is to blindly
support Israel, and to be Bad is to in any way criticise it, should look a
little bit more objectively at what is happening under the cover they so
willingly provide.
Thank-you for having the courage (which you will doubtless see is needed)
to publish this article.
Competing interests:
None declared
Competing interests: No competing interests
Why the over reaction
Thank you very much for publishing this Article. I think this article
is only stating what the author have seen from the Palestinians
perspective, He is entitled for that, there is no mention that the
Palestinians fighters are angels, so why over react? I think we should all
put our hands together to correct these grave mistakes that are occurring
in the occupied territories.
Competing interests:
None declared
Competing interests: No competing interests