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Sunday, April 27, 2003A striking component of this process of dehumanisation has been the flood of examples of blatant disregard for medical neutrality, and other internationally agreed rules of conflict, notably by the IDF during its relentless attacks in the West Bank ordered by Ariel Sharon, and continued despite overwhelming international condemnation. There are numerous independent reports of Palestinian ambulance personnel being killed by IDF fire, even after the attacked ambulances had been cleared by the IDF for safe passage. The International Committee of the Red Cross was just one of several aid agencies obliged to limit activities in the West Bank as a result of threats to staff and attacks on vehicles and offices. To which the cardiologist responds: Unfortunately, Palestinian ambulances were repeatedly used to transport combatants and weapons, prompting the IDF to send an official protest to the International Red Cross on May 2, 2002. The communication included reports of terrorists who were disguised as being wounded and transported in ambulances of the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (the local form of the International Red Cross) in attempts to evade the IDF. Also, flagrant abuse of medical accreditation by Palestinian terrorists was reported on January 27, 2002, after a terrorist bombing in downtown Jerusalem. Both the female suicide terrorist (Wafa Idris), and the attack coordinators (Mohammed Hababa and Munzar Noor) worked for the Palestinian Red Crescent Society. At the outset of the renewed violence, the IDF had received intelligence reports warning them that some terrorist organisations would use ambulances to smuggle bombs or as car bombs. Based on these reports, on March 27, 2002, IDF forces in the Ramah roadblock signalled an approaching Palestinian ambulance to stop. When the driver ignored the signals, IDF soldiers fired shots in the air and, fortunately, the ambulance stopped. Inside, the soldiers found a woman and three children, aged 4 years, 3 years, and 6 months. A sick child (reportedly with osteomyelitis) was lying on the stretcher. However, under the stretcher there was a 10-kg bomb-vest of the same type that suicide terrorists hide under their clothes (figure). The ambulance driver (Isalam Jibril, age 31 years) testified that he was moving the bomb to Ramallah, a 15-min drive from Jerusalem. ...Civilians are being killed on both sides. There is, however, a fundamental difference between the civilian losses suffered by Israel and Palestine. I do not pretend to have the absolute truth and I will not pretend to be unbiased. I can only give you the truth as I know it. This truth is so simple that it may be difficult for some to accept. Deaths among Palestinian unarmed civilians, caught in the crossfire between fighting forces, were unintentional. This is a tragic, yet unavoidable consequence of war, of all wars. Genuine, continuous efforts are being made by the IDF to keep Palestinian civilian losses to a minimum, at times at the cost of Israeli soldiers' lives. By contrast, civilian losses in Israel are nothing short of deliberate. These accounts were widely available in news reports from the region at the time, but apparently ignored by The Lancet editorialists. The accounts didn't fit their particular bias. That's part of the problem of mixing politics within a medical journal - the biases and the prejudices of the editors cloud the issues. A medical journal is meant for a wide audience. Physicians are of all stripes - right, left, moderate. No matter what the political persuasion of the editorial staff, putting political editorials in a medical journal will offend someone. Imagine the uproar that would ensue if The Lancet suddenly began to publish anti-abortion editorials. posted by Sydney on 4/27/2003 08:19:00 AM 0 comments 0 Comments: |
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