Jedburgh
08-05-2008, 10:54 PM
Physicians for Human Rights - Israel, 4 Aug 08:
Holding Health to Ransom: GSS Interrogation and Extortion of Palestinian Patients at Erez Crossing (http://www.phr.org.il/phr/files/articlefile_1217865604015.pdf)
The increasing restrictions imposed by the State of Israel on entry and exit of money, goods, services and persons via Gaza crossings and the closure of Rafah Crossing into Egypt since June 2007 have led to a sharp decline in the ability of Gaza’s healthcare system to provide services to patients.
The results have been a sharp increase in the number of patients referred to external medical centers (in Israel, the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Jordan) via Israeli-controlled Erez Crossing, and a much sharper increase in the proportion of patients denied exit permits: from 10% in the first half of 2007 to 35% in the first half of 2008.
Whereas this process raises urgent questions regarding the responsibility of the State of Israel, as Occupying Power, to ensure the health and welfare of the civilian population of Gaza, the present report focuses rather on the mechanisms of denial of access to medical care, on the increasingly central role played by the Israeli General Security Service within this mechanism, and on the coercion of patients in the course of this process.
The report first provides a detailed description of the permits mechanism instituted by Israel at Erez Crossing and of the growing restrictions placed by this mechanism on the access of patients to medical care unavailable in Gaza. Statistical data is provided, based on Physicians for Human Rights-Israel (PHR-Israel (http://www.phr.org.il/phr/))’s casework with Gaza patients between January 2007 and April 2008.
The central part of the report describes the policy employed over the past year by the GSS, whereby patients are detained for interrogation at Erez Crossing, and requested either to provide information or to act as collaborators on a regular basis as a condition for permission to exit Gaza for medical treatment. Over the past year, more than 30 patients’ testimonies have been received by PHR-Israel, demonstrating this procedure. The methods of coercion employed by the GSS are examined in detail and a description of the growing formalization of the interrogation process is provided, including an attempt by the GSS to coerce PHR-Israel into cooperation with the mechanism described.....
Complete 85-page report at the link.
Holding Health to Ransom: GSS Interrogation and Extortion of Palestinian Patients at Erez Crossing (http://www.phr.org.il/phr/files/articlefile_1217865604015.pdf)
The increasing restrictions imposed by the State of Israel on entry and exit of money, goods, services and persons via Gaza crossings and the closure of Rafah Crossing into Egypt since June 2007 have led to a sharp decline in the ability of Gaza’s healthcare system to provide services to patients.
The results have been a sharp increase in the number of patients referred to external medical centers (in Israel, the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Jordan) via Israeli-controlled Erez Crossing, and a much sharper increase in the proportion of patients denied exit permits: from 10% in the first half of 2007 to 35% in the first half of 2008.
Whereas this process raises urgent questions regarding the responsibility of the State of Israel, as Occupying Power, to ensure the health and welfare of the civilian population of Gaza, the present report focuses rather on the mechanisms of denial of access to medical care, on the increasingly central role played by the Israeli General Security Service within this mechanism, and on the coercion of patients in the course of this process.
The report first provides a detailed description of the permits mechanism instituted by Israel at Erez Crossing and of the growing restrictions placed by this mechanism on the access of patients to medical care unavailable in Gaza. Statistical data is provided, based on Physicians for Human Rights-Israel (PHR-Israel (http://www.phr.org.il/phr/))’s casework with Gaza patients between January 2007 and April 2008.
The central part of the report describes the policy employed over the past year by the GSS, whereby patients are detained for interrogation at Erez Crossing, and requested either to provide information or to act as collaborators on a regular basis as a condition for permission to exit Gaza for medical treatment. Over the past year, more than 30 patients’ testimonies have been received by PHR-Israel, demonstrating this procedure. The methods of coercion employed by the GSS are examined in detail and a description of the growing formalization of the interrogation process is provided, including an attempt by the GSS to coerce PHR-Israel into cooperation with the mechanism described.....
Complete 85-page report at the link.