Friday, February 05, 2010

Lancet morphs into: Palestinian Medical Journal



Medical Journals with Palestinian Glasses -Barbara Kay

Lancet, once an impeccable source for authoritative medical research, has in recent years become more and more "Palestinianized."

In a just-published article, "Association between exposure to political violence and intimate-partner violence in the occupied Palestinian territory," Palestinian husbands were found to be more violent towards their wives as a function of the Israeli "occupation." Very clever. Being a Palestinian means you get to beat your wife because the Israelis made me do it!

The statistics were gathered and the study was funded by the Palestinian Authority. This is propaganda, not research.

It's too bad these medical journals don't choose to highlight the amazing medical benefits Israel has brought to Palestinians. As detailed in a May 30, 2009, study by U.S. medical researchers, Palestinians in the territories boast the lowest mortality rate per 100,000 of all Middle Eastern Arab populations. Since 1972, immunization coverage in the territories has reached 99%. Polio and measles have been eradicated. Life expectancy rose from 54 in 1970 to 73 in 2007.

A non-political group called Save a Child's Heart, based at Wolfson Hospital in Tel Aviv, has operated on 2,100 children from 35 different countries at a cost of about $10,000 per child. Almost half were from neighboring Arab countries, including the West Bank.

During the Gazan conflict, an infant nephew of the Hamas minister of defense was brought in for urgent heart surgery.
(Pajamas Media)
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1 comment:

LHwrites said...

I am not dure what the impetus would be for this particular line of research at this time. I also have not yet seen the study to see if there were methodological weaknesses. On the face of it, it is neither surprising, or particularly damning of Israel. I would expect people who are angry would, sadly, have these issues, and if they perceive their destinies are controlled by a people they don't think should be there---I would believe such a frustrating position could mean this report is accurate. Nevertheless, I do not think it gives permission nor does it blame Israel. Just as looking at the high rates of domestic violence or suicide for some professions does not alter the fact that these professions exist and will need to continue to exist. This might open some avenues for help that could curry favor with certain parts of the Palestinian people though. Also, it could be viewed as the failure of the many large and rich Arab nations that have failed to help the Palestinians, and in fact have fueled the fire of hatred in the past, that could be blamed for the troubles being witnessed now. This is interesting, this is very sad, it is possibly accurate and it is certainly not permission or an excuse for domestic violence, nor a condemnation of Israel. It is what it is.