BEIRUT — I must, reluctantly, tip my cap to Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and his propaganda machine for their sheer audacity. The more the Israeli troops, settlers and Israel’s official occupation policies injure and kill Palestinians and make life miserable for the whole population, the more eloquently Israeli officials praise their own humanitarianism in front of the world.
This is a high water mark of Israeli mendacity, in view of the statement issued by the Israeli government and Olmert after their cabinet meeting May 21, when they decided to release some of the Palestinian tax money they have withheld, to finance purchases of medicines by Palestinian hospitals that are running out of essential needs.
The Israeli government statement said: “The State of Israel feels bound — above and beyond its formal obligations — to see to humanitarian concerns, and to the health of those who are ill anywhere. We cannot, under any circumstances, bear the thought of a sick child without medical assistance, solely because of a shortage of drugs, and this has nothing to do with any kind of formal obligation. This is a moral and fundamentally Jewish concern that we want to uphold. We have no intention of helping the Palestinian government, we will not transfer so much as a penny to any Palestinian official, but I say, we will render such assistance as may be necessary for humanitarian needs. This is, has been, and will be, the way of the State of Israel.”
I agree that fundamental Jewish concerns have historically focused on moral needs and deeds, which is the beauty and power of Judaism as a religion and an ethical code. I am reminded of this every time I read a Jewish prayer book that a Jewish friend gave me some years ago, which parallels the depth of ethical concerns in the Koran and the New Testament.
That is precisely why the official policies of the state of Israel are so abhorrent to us and to many others around the world, and why Israel has been the most frequently censured state in the United Nations — because in its relations with the Palestinians the state of the Jewish people routinely ignores and contradicts the ethical profundity of the Jewish people themselves.
Olmert’s and the Israeli government’s expression of deep concern for the health of Palestinian children will get wide play in the global media, but the harsh policies of the Israeli occupation that has lasted for 39 years to date will be less deeply explored. For anyone interested in the facts about the impact of Israeli policies on Palestinian children, a good place to start is the carefully checked data disseminated by the Palestinian Nongovernmental Organization Network (www.palestinemonitor.org). Their data is compiled and verified on the ground by the Ramallah-based Health Development Information and Policy Institute, which has been honored by the World Health Organization for its work in promoting Palestinian health needs. So these people know what they are talking about when it comes to health conditions on the ground in Israeli-occupied Palestine. Some of the facts they provide are as follows.
In just the first two years of the second intifada, from September 2000 to November 2002:
* 383 Palestinian children (under the age of 18) were killed by the Israeli army and Israeli settlers, i.e. almost 19% of the total Palestinians killed; those figures have increased since then.
* Approximately 36% of total Palestinians injured (estimated at more than 41,000) are children; 86 of these children were under the age of ten; 21 infants under the age of 12 months have been killed.
* 245 Palestinian students and school children have been killed; 2,610 pupils have been wounded on their way to or from school.
* The Israeli policy of widespread closure has paralyzed the Palestinian health system, with children particularly vulnerable to this policy of collective punishment. Internal closures have severely disrupted health plans which affect over 500,000 children, including vaccination programs, dental examinations and early diagnosis for children when starting schools.
* During the first two months of the intifada, the rate of upper respiratory infections in children increased from 20% to 40%. Almost 60% of children in Gaza suffer parasitic infections.
* An overwhelming number of Palestinian children show symptoms of trauma such as sleep disorders, nervousness, decrease in appetite and weight, feelings of hopelessness and frustration, and abnormal thoughts of death.
* There have been 36 cases of Palestinian women in labor delayed at checkpoints and refused permission to reach medical facilities or for ambulances to reach them. At least 14 of these women gave birth at the checkpoint with eight of the births resulting in the death of the newborn infants.
The Israeli army killing of Palestinian children continues apace. In its annual report May 16, the respected global human rights organization Amnesty International accused the Israeli army of killing 190 Palestinians, including 50 children, last year.
If these facts are slightly inconvenient for Israeli propagandists and their American mouthpieces, who are working overtime during Ehud Olmert’s visit to Washington this week, imagine how they feel to Palestinian children shot in the back of the neck by Israeli soldiers and settlers. If we are going to discuss the health conditions of Palestinians, or any other people, we should at least have the human decency to talk facts — because human decency is, indeed, the moral legacy of Israelis and Palestinians alike. This is the time to reaffirm it, not bury it deeper under new layers of lies and disinformation.
Rami G. Khouri is editor-at-large of the Beirut-based Daily Star, published throughout the Middle East with the International Herald Tribune.
Copyright ©2006 Rami G. Khouri / Agence Global
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Released: 24 May 2006
Word Count: 917
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