{"id":44856,"date":"2014-07-21T12:00:23","date_gmt":"2014-07-21T11:00:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=44856"},"modified":"2015-05-05T21:33:39","modified_gmt":"2015-05-05T20:33:39","slug":"gaza-medecins-sans-frontieres-official-likens-job-to-patching-up-torture-victims-in-an-open-air-prison","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2014\/07\/gaza-medecins-sans-frontieres-official-likens-job-to-patching-up-torture-victims-in-an-open-air-prison\/","title":{"rendered":"Gaza: M\u00e9decins Sans Fronti\u00e8res Official Likens Job to \u2018Patching Up Torture Victims in an Open-Air Prison\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Comments by Senior M\u00e9decins Sans Fronti\u00e8res Official Expose Ethical Dilemma of Humanitarian Work in Conflict Zones.<\/em><\/p>\n

In an unprecedented criticism of the Israeli siege of Gaza, a senior official in the M\u00e9decins Sans Fronti\u00e8res<\/em> (MSF) humanitarian charity has described his organisation\u2019s work among the 1.8 million besieged Palestinian refugees as akin to being \u201cin an open-air prison to patch up prisoners in between their torture sessions\u201d.<\/p>\n

Jonathan Whittall, head of humanitarian analysis at MSF, who worked in Libya during the 2011 war, in Bahrain during the uprising of the same year, in Syria, Afghanistan, Pakistan, South Sudan and Darfur, has bluntly asked his colleagues: \u201cAt what point does MSF\u2019s repeated medical action in an unacceptable situation [like Gaza] become complicity with aggression and oppression?\u201d<\/p>\n

Unlike other medical charities, MSF has always encouraged its staff to speak frankly about the dangers and moral problems they face, and the long and passionate report from Mr Whittall \u2013 unlike those of other humanitarian groups, which prefer to silence their staff \u2013 is in keeping with MSF\u2019s rules. But its accusations against Israel are sure to arouse fierce Israeli condemnation during a disproportionate war \u2013 supposedly fought to prevent Hamas rocket attacks on Israel \u2013 in which the Israeli military has killed well over 200 civilians, many of them women and children.<\/p>\n

\u201cAn entire population is trapped in what is essentially an open-air prison,\u201d Mr Whittall writes. \u201cThey can\u2019t leave and only the most limited supplies \u2013 essential for basic survival \u2013 are allowed to enter. The population of the prison have elected representatives and organised social services.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome of the prisoners have organised into armed groups and resist their indefinite detention by firing rockets over the prison wall. However, the prison guards are the ones who have the capacity to launch large-scale and highly destructive attacks on the open-air prison.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a comparison which is also certain to infuriate Israel, Mr Whittall, who is based in Beirut, says that the limitations of humanitarian groups in Gaza are not unique. \u201cIn 2012,\u201d he writes, \u201cMSF closed its projects in the prisons of Misrata, Libya. Our doctors were outraged to be in a position where we were providing treatment to patients who were being tortured by state authorities. At the time, MSF spoke out strongly: \u2018Our role is to provide medical care to war casualties and sick detainees, not repeatedly to treat the same patients between torture sessions\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since 2010, MSF has run a post-operation clinic in Gaza City, where 80 per cent of the patients suffer from severe burns, and provides specialised hand surgery in the Nasser hospital at Khan Younis, and intensive care training to medical and paramedical personnel at both the Nasser and Shifa hospitals.<\/p>\n

During conflict, Mr Whittall adds, \u201cthe voice of outrage of MSF medical teams is drowned out by the propaganda war that erupts each time a [military] operation such as this takes place and by the concerns that too loud a voice of criticism could cut off the organisation\u2019s surgical teams from being able to reach the Gaza Strip.\u201d Although Mr Whittall does not say so, the same constraints were felt by humanitarian groups when confronted by civilian populations in desperate need of help in the Syrian war.<\/p>\n

In another sideswipe at the Israeli military\u2019s actions against Gaza, Mr Whittall remarks that \u201ceveryone pays the price for living under siege and for their acts of resistance. Medical workers have been killed and health structures damaged. In such a densely populated environment, the claims of not targeting civilians in air raids are of little comfort. There are always limits to humanitarian action. Humanitarian organisations can treat the wounded. But we can\u2019t open borders to end violence.\u201d<\/p>\n

The MSF official also notes that while confronting the \u201climits of humanitarianism\u201d is a daily reality for MSF field workers, \u201cit is made only more apparent by the duration of the suffering and the international political configuration that allows for the sick political statements and endless violence to continue.\u201d Mr Whittall says that as \u201cthe open-air prison of Gaza braces for more air raids and a possible ground operation,\u201d the limits of MSF\u2019s work remain obvious, and he demands that Palestinians should be allowed \u201cto move freely and to seek safety in times of violence, including into Egypt\u2026 Civilians and civilian infrastructure \u2013 including medical workers, health centres and ambulances \u2013 should never be targeted. Humanitarian aid and its workers should be given unhindered access at all times \u2013 not as a favour but as a legal responsibility.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr Whittall\u2019s analysis will evoke much sympathy among other humanitarian organisations, and with EU officials who find that their assistance in the Palestinian occupied territories or Gaza is taken for granted \u2013 or even abused \u2013 by the Israelis. EU humanitarian projects, both in Gaza and the West Bank, have been destroyed by the Israeli army \u2013 with afterwards scarcely a breath of criticism from the EU itself, which has no connection with MSF.<\/p>\n

____________________________<\/p>\n

Robert Fisk, based in Beirut, is a multiple award-winning journalist on the Middle East and a <\/em>correspondent for <\/em>The Independent, a UK newspaper.\u00a0 He is the author of many books on the region, including <\/em>The Great War for Civilisation: The Conquest of the Middle East<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Go to Original \u2013 independent.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Join the BDS-BOYCOTT, DIVESTMENT, SANCTIONS <\/em>campaign<\/em><\/strong><\/span> to protest the Israeli barbaric siege of Gaza, illegal occupation of the Palestine nation\u2019s territory, the apartheid wall, its inhuman and degrading treatment of the Palestinian people, and the more than 7,000 Palestinian men, women, elderly and children arbitrarily locked up in Israeli prisons.<\/p>\n

DON’T BUY<\/strong> PRODUCTS WHOSE<\/strong> BARCODE<\/strong> STARTS WITH<\/strong> 729<\/strong>, which indicates that it is produced in Israel.\u00a0\u00a0 DO YOUR PART! MAKE A DIFFERENCE!<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

7 2 9: BOYCOTT FOR JUSTICE!<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Comments by Senior M\u00e9decins Sans Fronti\u00e8res Official Expose Ethical Dilemma of Humanitarian Work in Conflict Zones.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-44856","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-palestine-israel-gaza-genocide"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44856","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44856"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44856\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44856"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44856"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44856"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}