American Public Health Association
APHA Calls for Improved Health in Palestinian Occupied Territory: The APHA’s anti-Israel resolution, which was submitted for membership vote by the following subsections within APHA: International Health, Medical Care, Occupational Safety and Health, and Peace Caucus. While what certain members of APHA wanted to accomplish — a peaceful end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict — the resolution put forth blamed Israel entirely for the lack of peace, and ignored all Palestinian responsibility. For that reason, amongst others, it failed to pass when voted on by the membership.
Comments on Draft Resolution:
“APHA Calls for Improved Health in Palestine Occupied Territories”: An in-depth, 35-page rebuttal of the APHA’s resolution, focusing on the errors of said resolution and the issues with APHA taking a political stance. It provides much-needed facts and context to the resolution. This response was submitted by Professor Elihu D. Richter, MD, of Hebrew University, Hadassah School of Public Health and Community Medicine, and The Jerusalem Center for Genocide Prevention.
Letter in Opposition to Resolution: ‘Improving Health in Palestinian Occupied Territories’: This letter was written countering many of the claims made in the anti-Israel resolution, calling for a more nuanced discussion and a greater degree of research than what the resolution allowed. Furthermore, it refuted several points made in the resolution, particularly regarding Palestinians’ access to healthcare, and put forth alternative strategies and recommendations that were less accusatory and divisive than those found in the resolution.