There are conflicting reports as to the reason, although the move could affect hundreds of thousands
The Palestinian Ministry of Health announced on Tuesday that it will bar further medical transfers of Palestinians to Israeli hospitals and medical centers, under the terms of a decision by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.
The new policy called for immediate implementation. When reached by The Media Line, a PA official affirmed that patients who had already transferred to Israel for treatment were excluded.
“Starting today, there will be no medical cases to be transferred to Israel,” the official said.
Osama al-Najjar, spokesperson for the PA’s Ministry of Health, said in a statement that the only alternative to Israeli treatment would be Palestinian hospitals, whether government or private.
Najjar asserted that the step came in response to Israel’s decision to withhold taxes it collects for the PA. Such stoppages have been undertaken in order to pressure the PA to stop paying salaries to the families of prisoners and those who attack Israelis. Najjar said this had “led to a financial crisis in the Palestinian government.”
Nevertheless, Azmi Abdelrahman, spokesperson for the PA’s Ministry of Economy, told The Media Line that the decision to bar further transfers for health treatment in Israel came as part of a 2017-2020 Palestinian development strategy aiming to mitigate dependence on the Israeli economy. Abdelrahman pointed out that any form of separation from the Israeli economy would help the Palestinian economy.
“The Palestinian medical sector is developing and improving,” he said. “Such a move will support its development further and promise a kind of independence.”
Ibrahim Haj Ibrahim, a Palestinian political analyst, told The Media Line that the PA decision would have more of an impact on Palestinians than on Israel.
“Treatment in Israel is the last option we have for some diseases and cases that can’t be treated here,” he said. “Therefore, the greatest damage will be on the Palestinian side.”
According to Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, 29,113 permits were issued to Gaza Strip residents for medical treatment in Israel, the West Bank or abroad in 2017. In the same year, 211,671 permits were issued to residents of the West Bank for such treatment.
Based on the latest statistics published by the PA’s Ministry of Health, remittances for treatment within Israel amounted to about $53 million, or 32.3 percent of the total cost of treatment provided by the ministry.