"The principles we accepted on entering the medical profession compel us to speak out in the face of these gross violations of basic decency and respect for human life."
This is what 753 students from various medical schools across the US said in a statement they published in the Lancet, a leading medical journal, announcing their solidarity with Gaza and condemning the brutal Israeli attacks on Palestinian civilians:
With sadness
and urgency we, medical students, express our outrage at the brutal
Israeli attacks and subsequent humanitarian disaster that is occurring
in Gaza. As we write, more than 600 Palestinians have been killed and
more than 2700 wounded in Israel's disproportionate assault that began
on Dec 27, 2008. Not just as medical students, but as Christians, Jews,
and Muslims; as Arabs, Americans, Israelis, and Palestinians, we write
in solidarity with the people of Gaza as they suffer yet another major
humanitarian disaster.
On Dec 10, 1948,
the General Assembly of the UN proclaimed that access to medical care
is an inalienable human right. More than 60 years later, as medical
supplies in Gaza's overstretched and underequipped hospitals dwindle,
this right is far from realised. The international community has been
slow to respond with aid and even that which is offered is not reaching
those in need.
Hospitals scramble to
operate with-out power, medicines, and clean water as medical equipment
and health workers are prevented from crossing the border. WHO reports
that health personnel have been targeted in breach of medical
neutrality and in violation of international human-itarian law.
Testimonies gathered by Physicians for Human Rights—Israel report that
patients wait in vain for treatment that cannot be provided by
overwhelmed medical personnel in paralysed clinics. This massive influx
of seriously injured civilians would overwhelm even the best of the
hospitals in which we train.
Meanwhile,
the bombardment of Gaza—one of the most densely populated regions in
the world—continues unabated and the international community refuses
to address Israel's abhorrent policy of collective punishment. Israel
claims only to target militants, yet the lists of wounded and dead are
rife with civilians, many of them children.
Irrespective
of the complex dynamics of this conflict, human rights, medical
neutrality, and the protection of non-combatants always demand respect.
Israeli "high-precision" weapons have destroyed a UN school in
Jabaliya, which was being used to house refugees, killing 40 civilians
alone. We do not dismiss Hamas's role, nor condone its targeting of
Israeli civilians. How will the slaughter of Israeli or Palestinian
civilians bring peace to this region? We fear this will instead breed
new generations of hate, distrust, and misunderstanding. Yet the
numbers of lives lost tell the story: Israel's response is
disproportionate and unacceptable.
We
cannot sit idly in silence as this violent assault on a civilian
population kills and maims hundreds of people. The principles we
accepted on entering the medical profession compel us to speak out in
the face of these gross violations of basic decency and respect for
human life. We implore the international community to shoulder its
responsibility to the people of Gaza. We are embarrassed at US
complicity and regret that many of the weapons fired come from our own
country.
As members of the medical
profession, we call for an immediate cessation of hostilities, the
immediate and comprehensive provision of humanitarian aid, and
recognition of the neutrality guaranteed to medical providers by
international law. Israel has only now approved limited humanitarian
corridors, but this is insufficient and has proven ineffective. We
stand united in opposing the health and human rights disaster inflicted
on the citizens of Gaza. As we hope for a return to civility, dialogue,
compromise, and resolution, our hearts go out to all of the victims of
this tragedy. The violence must stop.
We declare that we have no conflict of interest.
Recent Comments