In the aftermath of a delicate ceasefire coming on the heels of 10 days of Israeli airstrikes that killed some 230 Palestinians, Gaza’s health care infrastructure has weathered serious damage: Bombs hit 17 hospitals and clinics <https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/05/20/world/israel-palestine-gaza>, interrupted importation of medical supplies, and slaughtered one of the area’s top pulmonologists in charge of coronavirus response efforts. Shrapnel from one Gaza City explosion reportedly careened into the Ministry of Health offices across the street, rendering the besieged strip’s sole Covid-19 testing lab <https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/18/world/middleeast/israel-gaza-covid-lab.html> inoperable. Meanwhile, health officials reportedly fear that the United Nations–run schools that became makeshift emergency shelters for thousands of fleeing Gazans could drive a surge in new cases at the very moment hospitals spared from bombardment are overwhelmed by casualties from the attacks.
But if the scale of devastation caused by airstrikes is especially acute, it would be wrong to think of the so-called “Israeli-Palestinian conflict”—itself a phrase that obfuscates the power dynamic between two staggeringly unmatched sides—as something that erupts every few years while otherwise lying dormant. It would likewise be wrong to conceive of a few suddenly decimated hospitals as an anomalous emergency besetting an otherwise functional Palestinian health care system. Israeli dominion over all aspects of Palestinian life doesn’t start and stop. It’s a daily process, maintained by violence. This experience—the ongoing *nakba* that many Palestinians swear never ended—has influenced every conceivable indicator of well-being. And as communities scramble to rebuild in the wake of a simultaneous siege and pandemic, one thing has never been clearer: Settler colonialism is terrible for public health. https://newrepublic.com/article/162495/israel-war-palestinian-health-care-gaza -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#8735): https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/8735 Mute This Topic: https://groups.io/mt/83065103/21656 -=-=- POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. #4 Do not exceed five posts a day. -=-=- Group Owner: marxmail+ow...@groups.io Unsubscribe: https://groups.io/g/marxmail/leave/8674936/21656/1316126222/xyzzy [arch...@mail-archive.com] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
