Dr. Eyad El Sarraj, President of the Gaza Community Mental Health Programme (GCMHP), has been awarded the prestigious Juan J. Lopez Ibor 2010 award in psychiatry. After having received the award he sent a worm thank you letter to Dr. Ruchama Marton, Founder & President of PHR-IL, acknowledging the years long support and cooperation between the two organizations.

Following the report published by Physicians for Human Rights-Israel (PHR-IL) after the events of March 16, 2010 in Jerusalem, we are issuing this update regarding violence by security forces directed against Palestinian residents of Jerusalem. This work is done based on our belief that violence – particularly violence committed by the security forces who are supposed to protect civilians – has destructive effects on everyday life and on the health and welfare of the civilians who are the victims of that violence.

A new position paper by three human rights organizations, Physicians for Human Rights-Israel (PHR-IL), Al-Mezan and Adalah, reviews Israel’s exit policy at the Erez Crossing regarding Gaza patients seeking medical treatment unavailable in Gaza. The paper argues that there is a consistent Israeli policy of distinguishing between life-threatening cases and cases that affect quality of life, as a basis to deny their exit from the Strip for medical treatment, which violates the principles of medical ethics and international law.

Joint Report by Adalah, Al Mezan and PHR-Israel to UN on Torture, Prisoners, the Lack of Investigations into Cast Lead and the Siege on Gaza including the Denial of Health Rights

The ministerial committee on legislation is to discuss today a proposal to amend the Government Health Law to include all children born in Israel or living here for more than three months.

The proposed legislation, steps away from being approved as law, would restrict the activities of a host of organizations working on a broad spectrum of issues in Israel and the oPt – from environmental groups to peace organizations to organizations that promote human rights.  
 

Physicians for Human Rights- Israel views the Israeli Cabinet's decision to ease the Closure as a positive step toward improving the lives of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. It must be noted however, that the announcement applies merely to one aspect of the Closure policy, which continues to constitute a much broader and more comprehensive policy of collective punishment.

The video focuses on refugees from Eritrea and Sudan seeking asylum from Israel.  Among the interviewed is Ran Cohen, Director of Migrants and Refugees Dept. at PHR-IL

Dr. Ruchama Marton, Founder and President of PHR-IL, was invited to take part in MdM's (Medecins du Monde) 30th anniversary event, in Paris, on June 4th 2010. At the event's NGO round table, Dr. Marton presented a paper titled "Political Independence and Relations with the State".   

The New Israel Fund is holding a symposium and reception with members of the NIF International Board to discuss the difficult challenges facing Israel today as we fight to sustain democracy and freedom of expression. June 28, 2010, Monday, Jaffa Port. Please RSVP

Five civil society organizations joined forces to formulate a unique position paper that outlines the principles of a social policy designed to reduce the gaps in health status and in health services. In it, the organizations call on the Prime Minister to initiate a multi-dimensional national program to reduce health gaps (Photo: Melani Takpeman, ACRI)

Tania Hary, Director of International Relations, Gisha - Legal Center for Freedom of Movement

Amiram Gill, Director of Advocacy, Physicians for Human Rights-Israel

Uri Zaki, USA Director, B’tselem - the Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories

PHR-IL sent an urgent request to establish an emergency hotline that would enable families to inquire about the medical and legal status of loved ones: "We ask that contact details be disseminated to Israeli and foreign media channels without delay"

The human rights organizations demanded that the state provide the names of people who were killed and injured on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla by the Israeli navy; the names and locations of those detained, as well as their condition; the legal status of the passengers on the ships; and access to those arrested, detained or in hospital without the restrictive pre-condition of requiring powers of attorney.

Today, May 25, 2010, Physicians for Human Rights – Israel submitted an urgent motion to the District Court in Petach Tikva on behalf of Mr. Ammer Makhoul, the director of "Ittijah", the network of Arab NGOs in Israel. PHR-Israel demands that the Israel Prison Service (IPS) and the Israeli General Security Service (GSS) allow a PHR-Israel doctor to urgently examine Mr. Makhoul.

• Leaving a chronic sick child (On her way to a hospital) alone and unattended, separated from her parents whose voices she could hear across the walls of the room.
• Forcing a woman (On her way to get medical treatment for her sick child) to take off her clothes while surveillance cameras are mounted in the room. 

An urgent motion submitted demanding that all details regarding the conditions in which Mr. Ameer Makhoul is being detained should be released, as well as the methods of interrogation that have been used against him.

Physicians for Human Rights to the GSS: Permit an independent physician to examine Makhoul, denied access to his lawyer and family since his arrest; there is growing concern for his welfare in solitary confinement under extended GSS interrogation

We, the undersigned, express our opposition to Israel's policy of unlawful transfer and deportation from the West Bank, which has escalated in the form of the Order regarding Prevention of Infiltration (Amendment No. 2) (No. 1650) ("Order 1650"). The order, effective April 13, 2010, defines anyone present in the West Bank as an "infiltrator", unless he or she is in possession of a permit from Israel, and subjects those without permits to deportation, transfer, criminal charges, fines, and/or imprisonment. It is part of a series of steps taken by Israel to remove Palestinians from the West Bank by declaring them to be illegally present in their own homes.

"Our organisations strongly denounce this new move which further undermines the safety of human rights defenders working to uphold the rule of law and combat impunity. Our organisations recall: that the fight against impunity constitutes an integral part of legitimate human rights activity, as recognised by international human rights instruments.."

At approximately 9:30am on Sunday 25 April 2010, Israeli occupation forces (IOF) arrested a Palestinian patient; 'Aed Rafeeq Abdel-Jawwad Ziyada, 26, at the Erez crossing in the North of the Gaza Strip. Ziyada, like many Palestinian patients, went to Erez to be interviewed by the Israeli Security Agency (ISA), as part of the Israeli procedures, to obtain permission to get access to a hospital in West Bank, Israel or abroad. Ziyada is now detained at Ashkelon prison in Israel and he is under interrogation.

The Lecture by Nobel Peace Prize Winner, Mairead Maguire, scheduled on the 24 April 2010 in Jaffa, has been cancelled due to flight cancellations caused by the volcanic eruption in Iceland. We regret any inconvenience caused and hope that you would continue to support us in our future endeavors.

Medical Activities report, March 2010, and the story of Salomon, an Eritrean refugee treated in the Open Clinic, who chose to share his personal story.

Physicians for Human Rights –Israel, Adalah- The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, and Al Mezan in Gaza praise EU Foreign Affairs Chief Catherine Ashton's decision to visit Gaza and view from up close the conditions under which the civilian population has been living for nearly three years. The organizations see Ashton's visit as proof of the growing opposition to Israel's policy to isolate Gaza from the rest of the world and collectively punish its million and a half residents, more than half of whom are children.

In East Jerusalem on Tuesday, the fieldworkers of Physicians for Human Rights – Israel (PHR-Israel) took initial testimony from local medical teams regarding the day's events. The following information is based on initial testimonies, some of which were taken via telephone as events occurred, and others given in person.

21-year-old Jihad Mughrabi was arrested by the GSS in 2008 and was heavily beaten during his interrogation. As a result, Mughrabi needed medical care. Unlike other torture cases, there are medical records from Laniado hospital and from the Kishon Detention Center which support Mughrabi's claims of abuse.

Human rights organizations: "The ISA (Shabak) summons sick patients to the Erez Crossing and detains them, preventing them from receiving medical treatment"

During a health and human rights conference held in Izmir, Turkey , featuring organizations that focus on the right to health, Dr. Ruchama Marton, the founder and president of Physicians for Human Rights-Israel (PHR-IL), made a presentation which included testimony by a Palestinian prisoner who had undergone torture during his interrogation. His testimony revealed that Israeli physicians and medical personnel collaborated with the investigators despite the fact that the Israeli Medical Association  had signed the Tokyo Declaration (1975) which forbids physicians from taking part in torture. Dr. Marton’s attempt to reveal the story to conference attendees had a surprising outcome.

Gisha and Physicians for Human Rights-Israel appealed to the High Court of Justice on behalf of Issam Hamdan against a District Court ruling blocking his exit from Gaza for emergency medical treatment, but the State refuses to allow him out of Gaza based on its claim that he may settle in the West Bank after treatment.

The Israel Medical Corps accepted PHR-Israel's demand to reject experiments that have not been proven to benefit the soldier population; a set of directives will ensure that participants consent of their own free will.  For example, soldiers will be allowed to take a leave at home before consenting to participate in an experiment.

Proposed amendments to the Law to Prevent Infiltration passed a first reading in the Israeli parliament on May 19, 2008, with 21 MPs approving and one (MK Dov Hanin) voting against.

In commemoration of the first anniversary of "Cast Lead", the Gaza Community Mental Health Programme, Physicians for Human Rights-Israel, and Gisha – Legal Center for Freedom of Movement announce the opening of a unique joint exhibition of drawings, made by children in Gaza during the past year, collected by the Gaza Community Mental Health Programme. The opening night will include an analysis of the drawings by a Clinical and Educational Psychologist.