At the time of a burgeoning polio outbreak & untold other infectious diseases, tens of thousands of amputees, ongoing bombing causing complex injuries & very few functional health facilities left, Israel is now forcing evacuation of Al Aqsa Hospital. There is nowhere to go.

Israel’s escalation of violence & restriction in the West Bank today is terrifying but predictable. Decades of impunity for violations across Palestine have led to this point. Why? As Israeli politicians have long made clear— territorial expansion. timep.org/2024/06/27/dis…

Institute for Palestine Studies announces the launch of a platform documenting the assault on Gaza's healthcare sector. This resource documents the destruction of facilities, targeting of health workers, and provides analysis and resources for researchers and historians. gazahcsector.palestine-studies.org/en

Within 2 days, 2 reports of Israel targeting humanitarian vehicles (first World Food Programme, then Anera) despite prior coordination. How is a complex polio vaccination campaign, which requires the movement of 100s of workers, going to function in this reality? theguardian.com/world/article/…

Spoke to jonah valdez for this piece about the increasing Israeli violence in the West Bank for The Intercept 👇🏽

The ICRC definition of ethnic cleansing: “A purposeful policy designed by one ethnic or religious group to remove by violent & terror-inspiring means the civilian population of another ethnic or religious group from certain geographic areas.”

From PRCS working in Jenin: “Our teams have been prevented from transporting various casualties, patients and elderly suffering from chronic diseases, and women in labor.” Attacks on health are a daily occurrence across all of occupied Palestine.

Israel has already demolished more than 1038 structures in the West Bank in 2024, displacing more than 2000 people. In all of 2023, they demolished 1175 structures, which had previously been the highest number since 2009. Daily, the West Bank is being terrorized--and cleared.

I talked about how Israel’s destruction of every aspect of society needed to sustain life in Gaza has, inevitably and predictably, led to a polio outbreak amid a larger humanitarian catastrophe, along with two physicians who have recently been in Gaza, on The Stream 👇🏽

📣Join us on Thursday, Sept. 12 at 12pm ET/7pm Palestine for the launch of our database documenting the targeting & destruction of the health sector in Gaza with Ghassan Abu Sitta, Layth Hanbali, & Jehad Abusalim جهاد أبو سليم. The event will be live-streamed. Register: palestine-studies.org/en/node/1656081

My latest for The New Arab: While political actors and the humanitarian sector were able to come together for a complex vaccination campaign, it is telling that they have been unable to make any progress on the endless other ways Palestinian children in Gaza are being harmed.

Multiple forms of attacks on healthcare and healthcare workers in the West Bank, via MSF International:

Among the horrific findings in this report: 20% of ALL the Palestinian children killed by Israeli forces and settlers in the occupied West Bank since 2000 have been killed after October 7, 2023—at a rate of one child every two days.

"Many women even beg us not to stitch their wounds after giving birth," Nour added. "They say: 'Please, I live in a tent with no bathroom. I don't want stitches.'" A midwife in Gaza: Bringing life into the world during Israel’s war aje.io/a9y8ah via Al Jazeera English

Simply pausing & not stopping Israel’s bombing of Gaza to vaccinate children at risk of polio shows the limits of efforts to save them, writes Yara Asi, PhD ⤵ newarab.com/opinion/polio-…

“There is only one reason to downplay harm done to civilians in war; so that perpetrators can continue doing it with impunity.” My latest for Arab Center Washington DC: arabcenterdc.org/resource/discr…

My latest for Arab Center Washington DC is about efforts, led by Israel & the US, to discredit or deny the death toll in Gaza: “This paradigm reveals the status quo belief about Palestinian pain and suffering: Palestinians are not to be trusted, while Israel is not to be questioned.”

The Palestinian American Research Center Palestinian American Research Center (PARC) announces the 3rd PARC Tanya Baker-Asad Scholarship for Palestinian women pursuing PhDs in the humanities and social sciences. Pre-proposal applications due October 25, 2024. For info: parc-us-pal.org/tanya-baker-as…