The Palestinian March: return to dialogue
2018; Elsevier BV; Volume: 391; Issue: 10134 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1016/s0140-6736(18)30989-9
ISSN1474-547X
AutoresKarl Skorecki, A. Mark Clarfield,
Tópico(s)Torture, Ethics, and Law
ResumoKhamis Elessi provides a description of injuries and deaths among Palestinians on March 30, 2018, during the course of violent clashes close to the Gaza-Israel border. From both scientific and humanitarian perspectives, we respect his efforts. However, in such a chaotic and politicised situation, obtaining verifiable information and, more importantly, drawing useful inferences, present serious challenges. Indeed, health professionals should be involved in reporting medical aspects of human suffering among both Palestinians and Israelis, resulting primarily from political failure on both sides. We especially appreciate the invitation provided to us by the Editor of The Lancet, Richard Horton, to provide our perspective. We approach the subject first through a brief outline of the context. Next, we provide facts not familiar perhaps to some readers of The Lancet and finally we offer a “quo vadis”. First, the context. Tragically, these “peaceful rallies” that Elessi referred to unfortunately were hardly that. Richard Kemp, a retired senior British army officer, observing on site offered that, “[o]ne thing people don't appreciate is this is not a peaceful demonstration”. Rather, he concluded “[t]his is a deliberate and specific intent by terrorist organizations to penetrate…Israel and kill civilians and the IDF [Israel Defense Forces] has no option except to use lethal force to stop such a dangerous threat.”1Frantzman SJ Reporter's notes: Palestinians burn tires as second “Great March” protest heats up.Jerusalem Post (Jerusalem). April 6, 2018; http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/WATCH-Smoke-on-Gazas-border-549030Date accessed: April 18, 2018Google Scholar He is not alone. For example, from a political perspective, Vivian Bercovici, the previous Canadian ambassador to Israel, concurred with this assessment.2Bercovici V No country would tolerate what Hamas is doing at Israel's border.National Post (Toronto). April 6, 2018; http://nationalpost.com/opinion/vivian-bercovici-no-country-would-tolerate-what-hamas-is-doing-at-israels-borderDate accessed: April 18, 2018Google Scholar Furthermore, these marches are hardly forms of spontaneous civil protest, as they are often portrayed. Rather, these lethal disturbances have been orchestrated and facilitated by Gaza's governing body, Hamas, considered a terrorist organisation not only by Israel but also by the European Union, the USA, Jordan, Egypt, and others. Hamas has not only openly pledged to destroy Israel, but is very active in trying to realise this goal, as exemplified by repeated burrowing of attack tunnels from Gaza into civilian residential areas within Israel for the express purpose of enabling its forces to infiltrate and murder Israelis.3ReutersIsrael says new Gaza tunnel foiled, lifts veil on detection lab.The New York Times (New York). April 15, 2018; https://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2018/04/15/world/middleeast/15reuters-israel-palestinians-tunnel.htmlDate accessed: April 22, 2018Google Scholar, 4Priven B Gaza's underground: a vast tunnel network that empowers Hamas.Al Jazeera America (New York). July 23, 2014; http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/7/23/gaza-undergroundhamastunnels.htmlDate accessed: April 26, 2018Google Scholar Elessi describes the woeful state of Gaza's health facilities. The situation is indeed dire and should disturb us all. Why then are Hamas' scarce resources being diverted from health services for Gaza's civilian population to building attack tunnels, manufacturing rockets, and arming a militia? This diversion of resources underscores the greater priority placed by Hamas on its goal of destroying Israel than serving the health and well being of the people of Gaza. In addition, Elessi points out Gaza's electricity shortages and the damaging effect these have on health services, but fails to mention that last year the Palestinian National Authority accused Hamas itself of being responsible for this crisis.5Government says Hamas responsible for Gaza electricity crisis.Wafa Palestinian News Agency (Ramallah). June 13, 2017; http://english.wafa.pspageaspx?id=0xTUi4a91082762100a0xTUi4Date accessed: April 25, 2018Google Scholar Israel, the only source of electricity for Gaza and despite Hamas' belligerence, returned its supplies in January of this year.6Ori L Israel says will resume power supply to Gaza on Monday.Reuters (London). Jan 7, 2018; https://www.reuters.com/article/us-israel-palestinians-gazapower/israel-says-will-resume-power-supply-to-gaza-on-monday-idUSKBN1EW0TRDate accessed: April 25, 2018Google Scholar Authorisation by the Palestinian Authority itself or increased Egyptian supply would alleviate suffering.7Kershner I Challenging Hamas, Palestinian Authority cuts electricity payments for Gaza.The New York Times (New York). April 27, 2017; https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/27/world/middleeast/palestinian-authority-hamas-gaza-electricity.htmlDate accessed: April 18, 2018Google Scholar To better understand our concerns about this demonstration—entitled The March of Return—one should consult the recently updated official Hamas Charter.8The Islamic Resistance MovementA document of general principles and policies.http://hamas.ps/en/post/678/a-document-of-general-principles-and-policiesDate: May 1, 2017Date accessed: April 18, 2018Google Scholar After denying the right of Israel to exist as a nation on any land between the Jordan and the Mediterranean (article 20), the Charter affirms in articles 25 and 26 “armed resistance” to be carried out by diverse means, as its strategic choice, guaranteed by “divine laws”. The “Return” in the Charter and in the “March” refer to Palestinians crossing the border into Israel in order to wipe it out as a Jewish State. This is not the same as an appeal to the world, by civil disobedience or peaceful protest, for support and relief from harsh conditions. Such a protest would necessarily also involve Gaza's border with Egypt and its interface with the Palestinian National Authority itself. Tragically and cynically, but true to its Charter, Hamas' sponsorship and planning have led to violence, fire bombs, shooting, and fence cutting, all accompanied by malicious threats to liberate “all” of Palestine.1Frantzman SJ Reporter's notes: Palestinians burn tires as second “Great March” protest heats up.Jerusalem Post (Jerusalem). April 6, 2018; http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/WATCH-Smoke-on-Gazas-border-549030Date accessed: April 18, 2018Google Scholar, 9Tomeah KA Hamas vows Gaza protests will last until Palestinians “return to all of Palestine”.Times of Israel (Jerusalem). April 9, 2018; https://www.timesofisrael.com/hamas-vows-gaza-protests-to-continue-until-they-return-to-all-of-palestineDate accessed: April 19, 2018Google Scholar Clearly, no one can argue with the conclusion that many have been wounded and killed by the IDF response and any right minded person, especially physicians, must lament such an outcome. Although one can speculate that less violent counter measures on Israel's part might have prevented a breach in the border, we do not have the technical expertise to judge such matters. The primary responsibility of the IDF is to prevent harm to Israeli citizens, while trying its best to minimise injuries to Gazan non-combatants, but under the impossibly challenging circumstances of a smokescreen combining combatant and civilian Gazans. Notwithstanding, IDF policy and practice, clearly elucidated after the 2014 Gaza war, is to thoroughly investigate instances of possible non-combatant lethal injury, especially in the case of civilians.10European Parliament Resolution of 19 April 2018 on the situation in the Gaza Strip (2018/2663(RSP)).http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//TEXT+TA+P8-TA-2018-0176+0+DOC+XML+V0//EN&language=ENDate accessed: April 22, 2018Google Scholar, 11Benjamin D Israel, Gaza and humanitarian law: efforts to limit civilian casualties.Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs. 2015; http://jcpa.org/pdf/The-Gaza-War-2014-Site.pdfDate accessed: April 25, 2018Google Scholar Although “thousands of Palestinian civilians including women and children” are mentioned by Elessi, in fact every one of the 15 deaths described occurred exclusively in men aged 19–42 years. Hamas itself stated that at least five of these 15 men were their own combatant operatives.12Elior L Hamas says 5 killed in Gaza border clashes were its members. ynetnews (Tel Aviv).https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5213024,00.htmlDate: March 31, 2018Date accessed: April 18, 2018Google Scholar That all of the deaths and most of the moderate to very severe injuries reported by Elessi were in men aged 18 years and over lends credence to the IDF claim that it tried, to the extent possible, to target only those who they felt were threatening the border. More importantly, Hamas' deliberate intermingling of women and children with armed combatants knowingly exposes the former to mortal danger, against all accepted norms of armed conflict.10European Parliament Resolution of 19 April 2018 on the situation in the Gaza Strip (2018/2663(RSP)).http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//TEXT+TA+P8-TA-2018-0176+0+DOC+XML+V0//EN&language=ENDate accessed: April 22, 2018Google Scholar, 13Gross JA IDF: Hamas cynically sent 7-year-old girl to breach Gaza border.Times of Israel (Jerusalem). March 30, 2018; https://www.timesofisrael.com/idf-hamas-cynically-sent-7-year-old-girl-to-breach-gaza-border/Date accessed: April 19, 2018Google Scholar Tragically, such exploitation of women and children as human shields is not new to Hamas, and represents one of the diverse tactics of escalating violence, which places an ideology of harming Israel ahead of innocent Palestinian and Israeli human lives, a policy specifically condemned by multinational organisations such as the European Parliament.10European Parliament Resolution of 19 April 2018 on the situation in the Gaza Strip (2018/2663(RSP)).http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//TEXT+TA+P8-TA-2018-0176+0+DOC+XML+V0//EN&language=ENDate accessed: April 22, 2018Google Scholar Just a few weeks ago, under the guise of another “peaceful” demonstration, on this very border, hostile forces successfully detonated a roadside bomb. Would it really help to detail the medical injures—three with major burns, two with significant penetrating eye damage and one upper limb amputation—experienced by the Israeli victims? (Shlomi Codish, Soroka University Medical Center, personal communication)14Halbfinger DM Four Israelis hurt by bomb set in flag at fence, igniting night of fighting.The New York Times (New York). Feb 17, 2018; https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/17/world/middleeast/israel-gaza-benjamin-netanyahu.htmlDate accessed: April 18, 2018Google Scholar Furthermore, what peaceful agenda would be served by outlining the specific pathologies of the more than 25 000 Israeli men, women, and children killed since the state was founded—killed in wars with neighbouring states purporting to support the Palestinian cause or murdered by terrorists? Would presenting such readily available data15Jewish virtual library.http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/comprehensive-listing-of-terrorism-victims-in-israelDate accessed: April 18, 2018Google Scholar bring an end to violence any closer? What then is to be done? Like Elessi, we are physicians, not politicians. We would all prefer that our respective leaders acted in a more far-sighted manner. We turn for inspiration to the thoughtful writings of another medical colleague, involved deeply and in the most painful and personal manner possible in the lethal consequences of the conflict. In his book, I Shall Not Hate, former Gazan physician and scholar Izzeldin Abuelaish, now at the University of Toronto writes “…let us build bridges of peace. I believe that the disease affecting our relationships—our enemy—is ignorance of one another”.16Abuelaish I I shall not hate: a gaza doctor's journey on the road to peace and human dignity. Bloomsbury, London2011Google Scholar We assume that Elessi, like us, still views self-determination and autonomy for two peoples, Palestinian and Israeli, living side-by-side in peace, and not either one replacing the other, as achievable. Let us do what doctors can do. Examples of cooperation among Israeli and Palestinian health professionals abound, with an overarching and mutual aim of achieving Palestinian independence in health care, as a positive step towards national self-determination.17Skinner H Abdeen Z Abdeen H et al.Promoting Arab and Israeli cooperation: peace building through health initiatives.Lancet. 2005; 365: 1274-1277Summary Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (29) Google Scholar Let us ratchet this up. Lobbing statistics as if they were missiles does no one any good. Elessi addresses both “commemoration” and “mourning”. Without minimising the importance of acknowledging mutual national narratives, grievances, and indignities, perhaps if we looked more pragmatically forward, rather than ideologically backwards, we could all commemorate more happy events and mourn fewer tragedies in the years to come. Let us use our privileged position and gift as health professionals to establish productive discourse and interaction, with health and dignity as a bridge to peace, so that ultimately both peoples, Israelis and Palestinians, can live side by side, with the ultimate security that comes from abiding peace. This has happened in recent years in other regions of intense conflict, and must surely also occur in our currently troubled region. We declare no competing interests. The Palestinian Day of Return: from a short day of commemoration to a long day of mourningOn Friday, March 30, 2018, marking the 42nd anniversary of Land Day—when Israeli forces killed six Palestinians during protests against land confiscation in 1976—Palestinians in the Gaza Strip marched to the eastern border with Israel beginning a six-week protest—what they termed the Great March of Return. It was the bloodiest day in Gaza since the 2014 Israel-Gaza conflict.1 Full-Text PDF
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