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<font size="1"><a href="https://mailchi.mp/51e43a85d85a/israeli-apartheid-undermines-palestinian-right-to-health-amidst-covid-19-pandemic?e=08c14cf485">https://mailchi.mp/51e43a85d85a/israeli-apartheid-undermines-palestinian-right-to-health-amidst-covid-19-pandemic?e=08c14cf485</a></font>
<h1 class="gmail-reader-title">Israeli Apartheid Undermines Palestinian Right to Health Amidst COVID-19 Pandemic</h1>
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<p>Date: 7 April 2020</p>
<p><br>
This year we mark World Health Day as the novel coronavirus disease
(COVID-19) continues to sweep across the globe, disproportionately
impacting those subjected to situations of institutionalised oppression,
discrimination, and injustice. For the Palestinian people, COVID-19 has
brought to the forefront Israel’s <a href="https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/Treaties/CERD/Shared%20Documents/ISR/INT_CERD_NGO_ISR_39700_E.pdf">apartheid regime</a> of systematic racial domination and oppression over all Palestinians,<a name="_ednref1" title="">[i]</a> which
for decades has led to the fragmentation and de-development of the
healthcare system of the occupied Palestinian territory, particularly in
the occupied Gaza Strip,<a name="_ednref2" title="">[ii]</a> and denied Palestinians the right to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health.<a name="_ednref3" title="">[iii]</a></p><p><a name="_ednref3" title=""></a><br>
<a name="_gjdgxs"></a>As COVID-19 continues to spread, Israel’s
apartheid regime has become more apparent than ever. In the Gaza Strip,
two million Palestinians have suffered 12 years of illegal Israeli
closure, which has undermined all aspects of life in the Strip and
pushed Gaza’s healthcare system to the brink of collapse.<a name="_ednref4" title="">[iv]</a> The
closure has led to profound levels of aid-dependency, food insecurity,
poverty, and unemployment, thereby undermining the right of Palestinians
to enjoy the underlying determinants of health and well-being.<a name="_ednref5" title="">[v]</a> Even
before the pandemic, the healthcare system in Gaza already faced severe
shortages of medicines, medical supplies, and equipment,<a name="_ednref6" title="">[vi]</a> pushing
thousands of patients with life-threatening conditions to seek
treatment outside of Gaza through an onerous, complex, and opaque permit
process by the Israeli occupying authorities, which severely deprives
Palestinians of their right to health, and in the most serious cases of
their right to life. These conditions are compounded by a chronic
electricity crisis, and the contamination of most of Gaza’s water
supply,<a name="_ednref7" title="">[vii]</a> which
has prevented Palestinians from effectively mitigating the spread of
COVID-19. Currently, the Gaza Strip has 12 confirmed cases of COVID-19,
yet only 87 ventilators for two million Palestinians, 80 to 90 per cent
of which are already in use.<a name="_ednref8" title="">[viii]</a> Similarly, the West Bank only has 256 adult ventilators for some three million Palestinians.<a name="_ednref9" title="">[ix]</a> The
situation is compounded in Palestinian refugee camps, in the occupied
Palestinian territory and across the region, where overcrowding,
physical and mental stress, and years of protracted conflict have made
over 5.6 million Palestinian refugees, who suffer food and job
insecurity, more susceptible to the threats of the pandemic.<a name="_ednref10" title="">[x]</a></p><p><a name="_ednref10" title=""></a><br>
At a time when governments are telling people to stay at home to limit
the spread of the coronavirus, Palestinians’ efforts to prevent and
mitigate the effects of COVID-19 are being undermined. Human rights
violations have continued, including Israel’s demolition of Palestinian
homes on both sides of the Green Line.<a name="_ednref11" title="">[xi]</a> On
26 March 2020, the Israeli occupying forces confiscated poles,
sheeting, and other materials that were to be used for two field
clinics, four emergency housing units, and two mosques in the town of
Khirbet Ibziq in the northern Jordan Valley in the occupied West Bank.<a name="_ednref12" title="">[xii]</a> In
Jerusalem, Palestinian volunteers involved in local initiatives to
disinfect schools and institutions or distribute foodstuffs in
underserviced areas of the city, in particular the Old City, have faced
arrest by the Israeli occupying forces, with aid materials confiscated.
Even before the pandemic, Palestinian health services in occupied East
Jerusalem suffered years of deliberate neglect and chronic underfunding,
which have weakened the infrastructure and capacity of Palestinian
hospitals to respond to COVID-19. Besides the shortage of testing
centres for Palestinians in the city, Palestinian hospitals only have 22
ventilators for some 350,000 Palestinian residents of Jerusalem, of
whom a third reside in neighbourhoods behind the Annexation Wall.<a name="_ednref13" title="">[xiii]</a></p><p><a name="_ednref13" title=""></a><br>
Elsewhere, arbitrary arrests and detention also continue at a time when
governments around the world are being called to release detainees and
those held without sufficient legal basis to reduce overcrowding in
prisons.<a name="_ednref14" title="">[xiv]</a> Instead,
Israel has taken no adequate measures to improve provision of
healthcare and hygiene for Palestinian prisoners and detainees in line
with the World Health Organization (WHO) guidance for preventing
COVID-19 outbreak in prisons.<a name="_ednref15" title="">[xv]</a> There
have also been reports of at least two Palestinian workers, suspected
of having COVID-19, being left by Israeli police at a checkpoint in the
West Bank without providing medical care or coordinating with the
Palestinian Authority to ensure their treatment.<a name="_ednref16" title="">[xvi]</a> As
the public health emergency continues to deepen, Israel has already
used COVID-19 as a pretext to escalate its repressive measures against
Palestinians,<a name="_ednref17" title="">[xvii]</a> including
through the resort to police brutality under the state of emergency,
racial profiling while enforcing restrictions and fines,<a name="_ednref18" title="">[xviii]</a> and unlawful surveillance by the Israeli intelligence,<a name="_ednref19" title="">[xix]</a> as mass tools of subjugation and control Israel has used against Palestinians for decades.</p><p>
In all areas, Israeli apartheid over Palestinians is apparent. In the
Naqab, within the Green Line, 80,000 Palestinian citizens have no access
to emergency medical services, while 56,000 residents of villages
unrecognised by Israel have no adequate access to safe, clean running
water. At the same time, Israel has failed to allocate resources for
coronavirus testing and emergency medical services in the unrecognized
villages, following decades of institutionalised oppression and neglect.<a name="_ednref20" title="">[xx]</a> Israel
has also shown reluctance to test Palestinian citizens for COVID-19 or
to establish drive-through testing stations in Palestinian communities
within the Green Line that already suffer poor infrastructure, whereas
ambulance drivers have not been trained to evacuate coronavirus patients
to often distant hospitals.<a name="_ednref21" title="">[xxi]</a> In
fact, it was only last week that testing centres opened in Palestinian
cities within the Green Line and in occupied East Jerusalem.<a name="_ednref22" title="">[xxii]</a> The
apparent disparity in health services and amount of testing being
provided to Palestinians, rooted in Israel’s institutionalised
discrimination, compounds how Palestinians experience the pandemic. To
date, Israel has also failed to test Palestinian workers for COVID-19,<a name="_ednref23" title="">[xxiii]</a> some
tens of thousands of whom may soon be expected to return to the West
Bank for the holiday period, with fears that this may fuel an outbreak
should workers fail to isolate themselves.<a name="_ednref24" title="">[xxiv]</a> At
the start of the outbreak, Israel even failed to provide real-time
COVID-19 updates in Arabic, further compounding Palestinians’
susceptibility to the pandemic.<a name="_ednref25" title="">[xxv]</a></p><p><a name="_ednref25" title=""></a><br>
COVID-19 has shed a glaring light on the detrimental impacts of Israel’s
apartheid regime on the right to health of all Palestinians.
International humanitarian law requires Israel, the occupying power, to
ensure the food and medical supplies of Palestinians to the fullest
extent possible,<a name="_ednref26" title="">[xxvi]</a> and
to maintain medical services, public health, and hygiene in the
occupied Palestinian territory, with particular reference to the
adoption of preventive measures necessary to combat the spread of
infectious diseases.<a name="_ednref27" title="">[xxvii]</a> At
the same time, Israel is bound under international human rights law to
uphold the right of Palestinians to the highest attainable standard of
physical and mental health,<a name="_ednref28" title="">[xxviii]</a> including the underlying determinants of health and well-being,<a name="_ednref29" title="">[xxix]</a> which
include the right to adequate food, water and sanitation, housing, and
work, and ultimately require the realisation of the right of the
Palestinian people to self-determination.<a name="_ednref30" title="">[xxx]</a><a name="_ednref30" title=""><br></a><br>
On World Health Day, as States continue to respond to the COVID-19
pandemic, Israeli apartheid remains a major impediment to the enjoyment
by all Palestinians of their right to the highest attainable standard of
health. As we take steps to prevent and mitigate the effects of the
pandemic, our organisations underline the root causes of Israel’s
structural and institutionalised oppression over the Palestinian people
in their efforts to develop an adequate response to COVID-19. If
Palestinians’ inalienable rights are to be realised, these root causes
must be addressed. Israel must end its closure of the Gaza Strip and
prolonged military occupation at large, release Palestinian political
prisoners detained in violation of international law, and ultimately
dismantle its apartheid regime over the Palestinian people as a whole.
While Israeli impunity prevails, however, it is the responsibility of
all States to adopt effective measures, uphold international justice and
accountability for Palestinian victims, and bring an end to Israel’s
apartheid regime.<br>
<strong>Background:</strong><br>
For decades, Israel has established and maintained an apartheid regime
over the Palestinian people through a plethora of laws, policies, and
practices designed to systematically fragment, isolate, and oppress
Palestinians. A myriad of movement restrictions, including checkpoints,
the Annexation Wall, and closures have resulted in denial of access to
essential services, including healthcare, and created a coercive
environment, which has deprived the Palestinian people of their means of
subsistence and prevented them from exercising any collective
rights. At the root of Israel’s apartheid regime is the strategic
fragmentation of the Palestinian people into four distinct legal,
political, and geographic domains, comprising Palestinians on both sides
of the Green Line, Palestinians in Jerusalem, and Palestinian refugees
and exiles abroad, whose right of return to their homes, lands, and
property Israel has denied since 1948.<a name="_ednref31" title="">[xxxi]</a><br>
<strong>Signatory organisations:</strong></p>
<ul><li>The Palestinian Non-Governmental Organizations Network (PNGO), including:
<ul><li>Al-Haq, Law in the Service of Mankind</li><li>Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association</li><li>Jerusalem Legal Aid and Human Rights Center (JLAC)</li><li>Al Mezan Center for Human Rights</li><li>Defence for Children International – Palestine (DCI-P)</li><li>Ramallah Center for Human Rights Studies (RCHRS)</li><li>Alrowwad Cultural and Arts Society – Aida Refugee Camp–Bethlehem</li><li>Early Childhood Resource Center (ECRC)</li><li>Human Rights & Democracy Media Center <span dir="RTL">“</span>SHAMS”</li><li>MA’AN Development Center </li><li>Palestinian Hydrology Group (PHG)</li><li>Palestinian Counseling Center (PCC)</li><li>Treatment and Rehabilitation Center for Victims of Torture (TRC)</li><li>Women’s Center for Legal Aid and Counselling (WCLAC)</li></ul>
</li><li>Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS)</li><li>Civic Coalition for Palestinian Rights in Jerusalem (CCPRJ)</li><li>Community Action Center (Al-Quds University)</li><li>The Palestine Institute for Public Diplomacy (PIPD)</li></ul>
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<div id="edn1"><p><a name="_edn1" title="">[i]</a> <em>See </em>Al-Haq,
“Palestinian, regional, and international groups submit report on
Israeli apartheid to UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial
Discrimination,” 12 November 2019, available at: <a href="http://www.alhaq.org/advocacy/16183.html">http://www.alhaq.org/advocacy/16183.html</a>. <em>See also</em> Rania Muhareb and Nada Awad, “COVID-19 and apartheid,” This Week in Palestine, April 2020, available at: <a href="https://www.thisweekinpalestine.com/covid-19-and-apartheid/">https://www.thisweekinpalestine.com/covid-19-and-apartheid/</a>; Osama Tanous, “Coronavirus outbreak in the time of apartheid,” 24 March 2020, Al Jazeera, available at: <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/coronavirus-outbreak-time-apartheid-200324151937879.html">https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/coronavirus-outbreak-time-apartheid-200324151937879.html</a>.</p></div>
<p><a name="_edn2" title="">[ii]</a> Al-Haq,
“Joint Statement: On Land Day Civil Society Urge Accountability and End
to Israel’s Illegal Closure of Gaza,” 30 March 2020, available at: <a href="http://www.alhaq.org/advocacy/16657.html">http://www.alhaq.org/advocacy/16657.html</a>.</p>
<p><a name="_edn3" title="">[iii]</a> <em>International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights</em> (adopted 16 December 1966, entry into force 3 January 1976) 993 UNTS 3 (ICESCR), Article 12(1).</p>
<p><a name="_edn4" title="">[iv]</a> <em>See</em>,
notably, Al-Haq, “Joint Statement: On Land Day Civil Society Urge
Accountability and End to Israel’s Illegal Closure of Gaza,” 30 March
2020, available at: <a href="http://www.alhaq.org/advocacy/16657.html">http://www.alhaq.org/advocacy/16657.html</a>.</p>
<p><a name="_edn13" title="">[xiii]</a> Al-Haq
interview with Walid Nammour, Secretary-General of the Jerusalem
Hospital Network and Chief Executive Officer at Augusta Victoria
Hospital in East Jerusalem, on 6 April 2020.</p>
<p><a name="_edn20" title="">[xx]</a> <em>See </em>Adalah,
“Before disaster strikes: Adalah submits urgent Israeli Supreme Court
petition demanding immediate access to coronavirus testing, bolstered
ambulance services in Bedouin villages,” 1 April 2020, available at: <a href="https://www.adalah.org/en/content/view/9948">https://www.adalah.org/en/content/view/9948</a>.</p>
<div id="edn23"><p><a name="_edn23" title="">[xxiii]</a> <em>See</em>,
recently, IDAN ZONSHINE, “Israel won't test people with COVID-19
symptoms unless they've traveled,” The Jerusalem Post, 4 April 2020,
available at: <a href="https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/health-ministry-narrow-criteria-for-covid-19-tests-needs-more-reagents-623535">https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/health-ministry-narrow-criteria-for-covid-19-tests-needs-more-reagents-623535</a>. <em>See also</em> Adam
Ragson, “PA asks Israel to test thousands of Palestinian workers before
they return home,” The Times of Israel, 2 April 2020, available at: <a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/pa-asks-israel-to-test-some-50000-palestinian-workers-before-they-return-home/">https://www.timesofisrael.com/pa-asks-israel-to-test-some-50000-palestinian-workers-before-they-return-home/</a>.</p></div>
<p><a name="_edn25" title="">[xxv]</a> <em>See </em>Adalah,
“Israel fails to provide real-time coronavirus updates in Arabic for
Palestinian citizens,” 10 March 2020, available at: <a href="https://www.adalah.org/en/content/view/9916">https://www.adalah.org/en/content/view/9916</a>. <em>See also </em><em>supra note</em> vi.</p>
<p><a name="_edn26" title="">[xxvi]</a> <em>Convention (IV) relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War</em> (adopted 12 August 1949, entry into force 21 October 1950) 75 UNTS 287 (hereinafter ‘Fourth Geneva Convention’), Article 55.</p>
<p><a name="_edn27" title="">[xxvii]</a> Article 56, Fourth Geneva Convention.</p>
<p><a name="_edn29" title="">[xxix]</a> CESCR,
General Comment No. 14: The Right to the Highest Attainable Standard of
Health (Art. 12), 11 August 2000, UN Doc. E/C.12/2000/4, para. 4.</p>
<p><a name="_edn30" title="">[xxx]</a> Article 1, ICESCR.</p>
<p><a name="_edn31" title="">[xxxi]</a> <em>See</em>,
notably, Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA),
Israeli Practices towards the Palestinian People and the Question of
Apartheid Palestine and the Israeli Occupation, Issue No. 1, UN Doc.
E/ESCWA/ECRI/2017/1, Beirut, 2017, p. 4. <em>See also</em> Al-Haq, “Joint Oral Intervention to the 100th Session of CERD for the Review of Israel,” 2 December 2019, available at: <a href="http://www.alhaq.org/advocacy/16266.html">http://www.alhaq.org/advocacy/16266.html</a>.</p>
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