Deviating from its focus on the global response to the coronavirus pandemic, the annual assembly of the UN’s World Health Organization held a four-hour session focused on Israel, which saw itself condemned in speeches by some 30 delegations, including Iran, Syria, North Korea, Cuba, Malaysia, Lebanon and Venezuela, for allegedly violating the health rights of Palestinians and Syrians in the Golan Heights.
The session concluded with a vote of 78 to 14, with 32 abstentions, to adopt a resolution, co-sponsored by Syria, Cuba, Turkey, Qatar and the Palestinian delegation, requiring the WHO to hold the same debate at next year’s assembly, and to prepare another report on the “Health conditions in the occupied Palestinian territory, including east Jerusalem, and in the occupied Syrian Golan.”
Hillel Neuer, executive director of the Geneva-based United Nations Watch, an independent non-governmental organization that monitors the UN, condemned the “cynical politicization of the world’s top health agency at the expense of focusing on the COVID-19 pandemic and other vital global health priorities and emergencies.”
WHO Singles Out Israel, Ignores Syria, Yemen, Venezuela
“Out of 23 items on the current world health assembly’s Agenda, only one, Item 17 targeting Israel, focused on a specific country. There was no agenda item or resolution on any other country, conflict, civil war or political impasse—not on Syria, where hospitals and other medical infrastructure are repeatedly and deliberately bombed by Syrian and Russian forces; not on war-torn Yemen, where 14 million are in dire need of health assistance; and not on Venezuela, where the health system is in a state of collapse and 7 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance,” said Neuer.
The Session Falsely Accused Israel of Violating Palestinian & Syrian Health Rights
“Today’s four-hour assault on Israel at the WHO promoted the lie that Israel is harming Palestinian health rights,” said Neuer. “The opposite is true.”
“Despite the conflict, Israel grants entry to tens of thousands of Palestinians who receive top-level medical care at Israeli hospitals. Even the UN’s own Middle East peace envoy hailed Israel’s ‘excellent’ coordination and cooperation with Palestinians amid the coronavirus pandemic,” said Neuer.
“Israeli medical teams coordinate with Palestinian medical professionals to provide training and assistance. Israel transfers medical equipment and has trained dozens of Palestinian doctors, nurses and medical personnel from Gaza,” Neuer added.
Deliberate Political Prosecution of Israel
According to reports on OCHA website, OCHA coordinates global emergency response to save lives and protect people in humanitarian crises, and advocate for effective and principled humanitarian action by all, for all.
”In recent days, we have seen a spike in requests for help from Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank who need medical treatment that is not available locally. These patients, some in critical condition and who require life-saving treatment, have told us that the Palestinian agencies in charge of liaising with the Israeli authorities have stopped transferring exit permit applications that were submitted for medical reasons.”
Patients further reported that the Palestinian Ministry of Health refuses to refer them to Israeli hospitals or cover the cost of treatment in Israel. Consequently, Israeli hospitals have refused to admit back organ transplant patients who have returned to their homes for post-surgery rehabilitation.
Inquiries was made with health care officials in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank have revealed that coordination for Palestinian patients was halted on orders issued by the office of Palestinian President Abu Mazen and the Palestinian Prime Minister just days after the president announced all civil and security coordination with Israel would be halted in response to its annexation plans.
Through these inquiries, we have also learned that following the crisis, an alternative coordination mechanism for medical travel began operating in Gaza. Since May 31, the Palestinian Center for Human Rights has taken over coordination for travel in humanitarian and medical cases. The center submits applications directly to the Israeli Coordination and Liaison Administration (CLA) at Erez Crossing. This is unprecedented. It is the first time since the Oslo Accords that coordination for travel by Gaza Strip residents is done directly between Israel and an independent Palestinian actor unaffiliated with the Palestinian Authority.
