ABOLITION IN PUBLIC HEALTH PRACTICE

SPECIAL EDITION: PALESTINE
The ongoing genocide and open-air prison conditions in Gaza, from the Nabka to the contemporary mass bombings in Palestine, has long been an area of concern public health.
The ongoing genocide and open-air prison conditions in Gaza, from the Nabka to the contemporary mass bombings in Palestine, has long been an area of concern public health. Using the lens of criminalization and abolition, we understand how our collective public health is impacted by the use of racism and colonialism to justify hospital bombings, restriction of access to food and medical supplies, and the pollution of land, air, and water in Gaza. Even when bombings cease, and the war is declared over, the public health and medical care infrastructure in Gaza and across Palestine will be decimated. These conditions existed before October 7 and they will continue to exist without mass mobilization to shift the locus of power and control from a racist, apartheid state to a government that provides equitable rights, freedom, safety and well-being to all.
Selected Resources
Occupied Palestinian territory health crisis 2023 | World Health Organization
Israel Attacks on Gaza Hospitals Risk Palestinian Maternal Health | Harvard Public Health Journal
Physicians for Global Health Equity Demand a Permanent Ceasefire
Introduction: Public Health and the Promise of Palestine | Journal of Palestine Studies
State Accountability for the Good Health of Palestinians Has Failed: What Can the Global Health Community Do Next? | Health and Human Rights Journal
Gaza hospitals: military siege and bombing | The Lancet
Gaza faces public health disaster, UN humanitarian office says
Discussion Questions
In what ways does occupation and apartheid impact public health? In what specific ways is the Israeli government’s genocidal actions and siege on Palestinians impacting public health?
Public health institutions have power to influence the decisions of the US federal government. What roles can public health institutions or groups play in pressuring officials to stop supporting the Israeli apartheid and genocide of Palestinian peoples, and other conflicts that originate in Western colonization?

Who To Follow
Noura Ekerat @4noura (Twitter)
Motaz Azaiza @motaz_azaiza (instagram)
Hind Khoudary @hindkhoudary (instagram)
Bisan Owda wizard_bisan1 (instagram)
For Further Learning
Medical Anthropology for Palestine
Palestine Program for Health and Human Rights at Harvard University
TAKE ACTION

1
Demand that your representatives call for a ceasefire and stop sending funds to Israel: https://www.jewishvoiceforpeace.org/take-action/
2
Boycott brands that are complicit in Israeli occupation and genocide.
3
Collaborate with other public health practitioners to use your collective power to hold public health institutions and the government accountable.
4
Join or create a Palestine solidarity action pod! Even if it is an informal group among friends, this can help you stay engaged, sustain your activism for the long haul, and be a source of support in the face of witnessing extreme levels of horror.

SPECIAL EDITION: PALESTINE

The ongoing genocide and open-air prison conditions in Gaza, from the Nabka to the contemporary mass bombings in Palestine, has long been an area of concern public health.

Selected Resources

Discussion Questions

Who To Follow

For Further Learning

TAKE ACTION

Demand that your representatives call for a ceasefire and stop sending funds to Israel: https://www.jewishvoiceforpeace.org/take-action/

Boycott brands that are complicit in Israeli occupation and genocide.

Collaborate with other public health practitioners to use your collective power to hold public health institutions and the government accountable.

Join or create a Palestine solidarity action pod! Even if it is an informal group among friends, this can help you stay engaged, sustain your activism for the long haul, and be a source of support in the face of witnessing extreme levels of horror.