PHR-Israel, Gisha petition Israeli Supreme Court, publish report criticizing Israel’s procedures on admitting Palestinians seeking medical attention through Erez crossing
Physicians for Human Rights–Israel and Gisha have published an August 19, 2007 position paper, after submitting a petition to the Israeli Supreme court (which the Court rejected), criticizing Israel’s system of classifying Palestinians at the Erez crossing seeking to enter Israel for medical attention.According to the Executive Summary of Position Paper, “PHR-Israel conducted a detailed analysis of applications it addressed during the period 14.6-4.7, in order to examine the classification mechanism employed by the Israeli authorities at the Erez Crossing when deciding which patients will be permitted to enter Israel for medical care, and which will remain in Gaza. The…position paper analyses the classification mechanism and the participation of medical workers in its procedures from a medical-ethical perspective. It concludes that ‘there is no medical-ethical justification for performing medical prioritization within such a system, and that any doctor performing triage in the service of the Erez Crossing Authorities is in transgression of the principles of medical ethics, since s/he is conducting a pseudo-medical procedure out of non-medical motives, for extra-medical purposes and against the benefit of some of the patients.’”
The report makes no mention of the fact that the Erez crossing has been targeted by terrorist attacks numerous times, and that it remains under threat; this is the primary reason for the strict procedures. Israel evacuated Gaza, which is now under the control of Hamas. The authors of the report seem to realize their weak standing regarding international law, and fall back on the vague claim that Israeli medical personnel involved in evaluating requests for emergency entry into Israel through the Erez crossing is in “transgression of the principles of medical ethics.” The position paper amounts to a flawed, idealized appeal to medical ethics which disregards terrorism, established international law regarding border crossings, and reasonable Israeli security concerns.
