In a press release (published today by IMRA), Physicians for Human Rights-Israel "calls upon the Palestinian society and its leaders to strongly condemn the use of patients for violent purposes."
What brought this on? This did.
The IDF thwarted a suicide bomb attack Monday morning when soldiers caught a young woman, Wafa Samir Ibrahim Bas, 20, wearing explosives strapped into her underwear at the Erez crossing in the northern Gaza Strip, it was released for publication.
Apparently the young woman took advantage of the fact that she had been issued a permit by Israel allowing her entry into Israeli territory for humanitarian assistance, IDF officials said.
The woman was intending to blow herself up in a crowded room at the medical clinic in Beersheba where she'd been receiving treatment for burns sustained in an accident at her home. When an alarm at the humiliating checkpoint she was forced to pass through in order to carry out her plan gave her away, she tried three times to detonate herself on the spot.
So, with that in mind, let's look at the actual context of PHR-I's "call for condemnation" of this heinous attempted attack.
In the past Israel has sealed the passage points (Erez and Rafah) for patients for extended times, as part of what was described as security measures. Patients who needed crucial treatments outside of the Gaza Strip were seriously harmed by these closures and some even died as a result. A sweeping hardening of the rules and regulations on all patients is a collective punishment which endangers the lives of many and is not allowed. So to, taking advantage of the ill for the purpose of committing attacks is inherently wrong and we call upon the Palestinian society and its leaders to strongly condemn such actions.
Physicians for Human Rights-Israel has and will continue to work against the occupation. The violations of the Palestinians' human rights, and specifically the right to health, in the occupied territories are a direct result of this violent occupation. However, as long as the violence continues each side to the conflict must observe the basic principles specified in international conventions and law. The protection of the ill, medical professionals, ambulances and hospitals is one of the most important of these principles.
Sickening.
