Bringing healthcare to cut off communities

18 July 2008

Today there are more than 600 obstacles to movement in the West Bank. Obstacles that originally were said to be constructed for Israeli security now massively influence the life of Palestinians. For example, those living in remote villages now have to make detours to find roads they are permitted to drive on – and they have to wait at checkpoints, sometimes for hours at a time, regardless of whether they urgently need medical help.

After the second Intifada in 2000 – a spontaneous Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation – Israel started closing its borders and checkpoints were installed throughout the West Bank. Israel argues that these checkpoints together with a permit system, the West Bank barrier and a restricted road network of 1,661 km largely for Israeli use, were set up to protect its citizens from terror attacks. However, these obstacles also severely hamper the movement of people and their goods and so have a devastating impact on the livelihoods of ordinary people.

"The people here are poor," says Nissen Hraini from Twana, a small village in the very dry region south of Hebron. "Sometimes they have a tractor but mostly they come on a donkey or just walk to the mobile clinic." Nissren is visiting the clinic with one of her six children who isn’t feeling well. The clinic which boasts a doctor and an assistant is provided by CARE International.

"This mobile clinic is a gift from heaven" says Nissen happily. Three years ago, when there was no clinic her daughter almost died. "She had a high fever. And we had nothing to help her," she remembers. The only reason her daughter survived is because a neighbour, one of the few in the village who had a car, drove them to the hospital in Hebron.

Today, thanks to the clinic run by CARE, basic healthcare is available once a week. In addition to consultations with a doctor, Nissren Hraini and other villagers can purchase essential medicine for less than a dollar.