Chronicles of Occupation | 50 Years to 1967

Chronicles of Occupation 50 to 67' recounts events in which PHRI confronted the occupation’s destructive force advocating for remedies.

Photo: HARNIK NATI / GPO

Physicians for Human Rights – Israel (PHRI) was established in 1988 with the outbreak of the first Palestinian Uprising (Intifada). Its first action was a visit by a group of doctors, led by Dr. Ruchama Marton, to hospitals in the Gaza Strip. This experience shaped their resolution to try and change the harsh reality they had witnessed.

From the first day, PHRI emphasized the unique role of health professionals – protecting people’s physical, mental and social well-being, and protesting any attempt to use healthcare and medicine as tools of punishment or oppression. 29 years later, and PHRI is still in the forefront of the struggle for human rights – the right to health in particular – resolute in its belief that the State has a clear obligation to fulfill the right to health for all under its control, regardless of their civil status, race, gender, or political inclinations.

Chronicles of Occupation | 50 to 67, recounts events in the historiography of the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territory, in which PHRI confronted the occupation’s destructive force on the lives of so many – from the daily routine of assisting a patient to reach hospital while under curfew, to an acute crisis situation while advocating the evacuation of the wounded from under the rubble at the height of the fighting.

During the first years of occupation Israel stressed public health issues, and mother & child care, mainly through immunizations system, and the lowering of infant mortality. Even at that stage, health was used as a disciplinary tool in what is often called “the carrot and the stick policy”. The development of the local health system, issue of permits to leave the oPt to study medicine, referring patients to the more advanced hospitals in Israel – all were in the hands of the Israeli authorities, using its power to tighten its control.

As the struggle against Israel’s occupation intensified, so the forms of control became more draconian. With the Oslo Accords in the 90s, many believed that the end of occupation was near, and in its first stages the process enjoyed great public support on both sides. However, even in those euphoric times, Israel used the transfer of authority to rid itself of responsibility for the health of Palestinians, while still keeping control of almost all basic determinants of health – freedom of movement, access to water, employment, housing, etc. This situation – thought to be temporary – became the routine reality, even today, when the end of occupation is nowhere in sight.

After Prime Minister Rabin’s assassination, with the rise to power of the political right, and with Israel’s citizens subject to terror attacks, the time was ripe for incitement against Palestinians and the Israeli Left. In a continuous process, we witness a denial or even justification of occupation by Israeli society.

In this reality of violence and hardening of attitudes there is a polarization between “us” and “them” and a distinction between those whose lives should be protected and cherished, and those who are neglected and ignored. Entangled in tormented histories, Israelis and Palestinians are entrenched in their positions.

The events recounted in this series determined the lives and destinies of those involved. They expose the mechanisms of discrimination, making them visible and irrefutable.

These events are our story of 50 years of Occupation.

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From the outbreak of the Second Intifada (September 2000) until the end of 2002, 1,769 Palestinians were killed, the…

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January 1988, Gaza Strip, A month after the outbreak of the First Intifada (Uprising).

Following the outbreak of the…

Posted by Physicians for Human Rights Israel on Thursday, June 22, 2017

The history of the medical community in Israel and worldwide is replete with cases in which it served the regime’s…

Posted by Physicians for Human Rights Israel on Friday, June 16, 2017

In June 2002, Physicians for Human Rights Israel arrived for a historic hearing at Israel’s High Court of Justice (HCJ)….

Posted by Physicians for Human Rights Israel on Tuesday, June 13, 2017

In June 1967, Israel occupied a territory three times its pre-war size, and immediately became responsible for the…

Posted by Physicians for Human Rights Israel on Sunday, June 11, 2017

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