Rights groups: Israeli ambulance rules discriminate

Ma'an
Human rights groups are calling on the Israeli government to cancel instructions preventing ambulances from entering Palestinian neighborhoods in East Jerusalem without a police escort.

According to Adalah, The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, Magen David Adom (MDA) ambulances “must wait in a Jewish neighborhood adjacent to the Palestinian neighborhood and may not enter it to transfer the injured or the sick person to the hospital until a police escort arrives, even in life threatening situations.”

In many cases, patients face long delays in receiving treatment, and must be transferred by their own family’s cars, risking complications or increased severity of illness, the rights advocates say.

In a news release on Thursday, Adalah said the procedures “violate the first rule in the work of emergency crews, which is to provide medical aid as soon as possible, and the state's obligation to ensure the life and physical well-being of each person under its authority.”

Further, the rules may amount to a violation of medical ethics and “may constitute cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment under international law,” the group added in a statement.

The Israeli Ministry of Health did not immediately return calls from Ma’an seeking comment.

Adalah, along with Physicians for Human Rights and the Al-Mezan Centre for Human rights sent an urgent letter to the Israeli Deputy Minister of Health and the Jerusalem Police Chief on 10 November demanding the cancellation of the guidelines.

...The situation for Palestinians in Jerusalem is particularly dire, Naamneh said, because “There is no alternative.” The Palestine Red Crescent Society has only five ambulances in East Jerusalem, Naamneh said, which are often much farther away from Palestinian neighborhoods than their MDA counterparts.

The rights group noted that the instructions do not apply to Jewish settlements in the heart of Palestinian neighborhoods of occupied East Jerusalem. MDA ambulances travel through Palestinian areas to reach settlements without any accompaniment, the group said.

...ambulances are sometimes forced to wait more than an hour on the edge of the community... Full story