The occupied Palestinian territory: peace, justice, and health.

摘要

The distances seem short. From Jerusalem to Ramallah is only a few kilometres; from Gaza City in the north of the Gaza Strip to Rafah in the south, 30 km; from Ramallah to Gaza, 70 km. One can drive the length of the West Bank in just a few hours. Yet for those living outside the occupied Palestinian territory, the distances-to peace and justice-seem impossibly vast. The impression conveyed through western media is of a land in perpetual war, a people drenched in hatred, aggression, and violence. Visiting the territory reveals a very different reality.1 This week, The Lancet publishes the results of a 2-year collaboration between Palestinian public-health scientists, WHO and associated UN agencies, and a broad group of international scientists from the USA, UK, Norway, and France.2-6 The goal of this Series on Palestinian health is to change the way health professionals, politicians, policy makers, media, and the public view, think about, and discuss the predicament facing this region of the Middle East.