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Birth in Palestine - checkpoint tragedies

It seems that giving birth in Palestine is a very uncertain proposition. The midwives I worked with in East Jerusalem were lovely, but having great difficulty in offering the kind of services they wanted, not only because of the domination of the medical profession, but also because of the political situation. The day I was there was the last of a four day Jewish religious holiday, and the Israelis has closed down the entire Gaza strip, so that no-one could leave that area. There was also a major clamp down in the West Bank, restricting travel severely. Consequently, no midwives could come from Gaza and many from West Bank towns were late because of the lengthy delays at checkpoints.

The heavy handed operation of the checkpoints, especially as it affects pregnant women, has been widely criticised. For many women, their nearest hospital is now located on the other side of the infamous wall that Israel has build around their country, so to receive pregnancy care, or to give birth, negotiating the checkpoints becomes a necessity.

I have been given a copy of a report on the situation entitled “Birth and Death at Checkpoints” prepared by the Foundation for Health and Social Development. It is harrowing reading, as it documents the violations of the human rights of pregnant and labouring women in the period between April 2002 and October 2002, when the Occupation Forces of Israel started invading the cities in Palestine and isolating them from their surroundings. Reports started coming in of women giving birth at the checkpoints because they were not being allowed through and of ambulances being stopped from passing. As these news stories broke in the media, the Foundation started a survey, targeting all the Reproductive Health Workers, and used their feedback to compile the report. From this data is was discovered that 54 women had given birth at checkpoints and at least 22 newborns had died at checkpoints during this period.

The Report lists the provisions in the 1951 Fourth Geneva Convention that relate to the safety of the sick, wounded and expectant mothers. This Convention was signed by Israel, but it now claims that it does not apply to the Occupied Territories, and as a result they have violated every one of the provision designed to protect citizens in a time of war. For the pregnant women, the results have been disastrous.

A number of individual stories are included in the report. I will give you just two, to illustrate the kind of terrible conditions that these women are being forced to bear:

”In Alyasamina Neighbourhood in the Old City of Nablus, we heard the story of “Wisam”. She is a 20 year old woman. In April 2002, during the first Israeli incursions into the area, the young mother went through labour as the whole area was placed under strict curfew. Israeli solders with fearful voices and gloomy faces, thirsty to kill and destroy, filled up the streets with their heavy arms. “Wisam” went out of her house with unbearable pain heading towards the solders hoping to find a compassionate reaction to her situation. But, no way.... A soldier shouts at her, ordering her to go wherever she came from; “I do not care what you are going through”, he yelled... she ties again and again, begging them to let her walk to the healthcare centre while her pains mountain. She falls to the ground unable to endure the pain.... Finally she is allowed to go, but the ambulance is not permitted to pick her up. She walks to the hospital about one and a half kilometres away; arrives there exhausted to deliver her baby through a caesarean operation”.

”On June 10, 2002, “Nisreen”- who was none months pregnant - decided to visit her family in Ramallah. This was bad timing; the whole area was moaning under curfew...Even hospitals were surrounded with Israeli military machinery.. Every single soul was encircled. It was forbidden to get into Ramallah from outside, under any circumstance. With hearts of steel, tanks do not move. The baby inside is calling for her right to life. This child rushes out... she does not want to wait. The mother’s water broke, announcing the time of the delivery. Like any other family in this situation, an ambulance is called to transport the mother and child to the nearest hospital and there are many hospitals in Ramallah. At that moment they were all distant.... The curfew was strict rendering the whole city as a city of ghosts. Ambulances were parked with no paramedics or doctors. They were paralized, prevented from moving a single inch. “Nisreen” could not find any lift to hospital. Fears grew until and ambulance was finally allowed to take her to the obstetrician clinic in Qalandia. Arriving there, the care centre was empty. No doctor or nurse was allowed to enter. Perplexed, the ambulance driver - with wishful thinking - thought that delivery is an emergency case that would be allowed to cross the detestable checkpoints and go to Almaqased hospital. They arrive at the checkpoint. Soldiers stop them under the pretense that the car has no entry permit. All attempts to cross failed. The baby - at this very moment - pushed her feet out of the mother. The mother’s condition became critical. The ambulance went round the empty streets. At the entrance to Qalandia Refugee Camp, another ambulance was waiting for a martyr or a wounded or an expectant mother in serious condition. They asked the driver about the permit and the driver said he had one. In a sigh of relief, the mother is transported from one ambulance to another and reaches the stubborn checkpoint another time...she is still denied access... till, with all the shyness of the world, had to uncover the baby’s arrival. She had to show her baby that was persisting to come to life, there at the very checkpoint. She is finally allowed to cross.”

These stories are two of a number that are included in the report. They include tales of babies dying because their mothers could not get help for them, and women bleeding to death because they could not be transported to a hospital. It is unthinkable that these women should be denied care and these tragedies should be allowed to happen.

In Israel, everyone must complete two years (girls) and three years( boys) military training, right after they complete high school. I imagine that many of these solders at checkpoints are therefore young, probably aged 18, 19 or 20. What kind of effect must this kind of brutal behaviour have on them? How can they deal with this kind of horror? I wonder how women feel about their children committing these kinds of atrocities against women - this must surely have an impact on the dynamics within a family, let alone the community as a whole.

It is a sad commentary on the way humans can treat each other, especially in a land that proclaims to be a cradle of Christianity......

Posted by andrea at June 20, 2005 08:49 AM