At military roadblocks between Palestinian cities in the West Bank Israeli forces continue to contravene international law, specifically the Geneva Conventions, which prohibit interference in medical procedures.
Dr. Ali Al Salman from Qaliqila in the northwestern West Bank works in Nablus’ RafidiyaHospital. He told PNN on Monday that doctors, medics, patients, and ordinary citizens alike are suffering exponentially at Beit Iba Checkpoint in Nablus.
Nablus would be about 20 minutes to the north if not for the checkpoints. He described a situation that occurred on Sunday. “I left the hospital in Nablus at 11:00 am in an ambulance. I reached Qalqilia at 4:00 pm.” Five hours to travel 20 minutes as a member of the medical community, expressly protected under international law?
Dr. Salman continued. “I am a doctor and I was inside an ambulance and this should grant me passage, as ambulances are expressly permitted immunity in any war situation, and certainly in one that is not a war, but rather a military occupation. itself was among the signatories of this particular United Nations Charter.”
The doctor told PNN, “The argument expounded by the Israeli military prevented us from crossing the checkpoint as this time. They claimed an explosive was found near a Monastery near the Beit Iba Checkpoint. The Israelis also arrested a number of young people. This begs the question, what Palestinian would put explosives at a Christian holy site as Christians in the West Bank are Palestinians.”
He continued. “I heard a loud sound and felt vibrations from 800 meters away as the Israeli forces detonated an explosive. We really do not know where these came from, despite the Israeli claim that they came from a Palestinian. Additionally the Israelis were attempting to accuse a nurse of carrying such explosives.”
Many ambulance officers in the Palestinian Red Crescent Society who routinely suffer at military roadblocks told PNN how Israeli soldiers deliberately impede their movement under the pretext of checking the papers of the patient or of a car.
There is in fact a UN resolution that allows occupying forces to check the contents of any vehicle, however not to exceed a time period of 10 minutes. This is in place for the sake of both the occupier and the occupied, so that the occupied can reach a hospital in time to save a life, although even 10 minutes is often times just too long and causes death or permanent disability.
