Health and Human Rights in the Middle East: The Role of Non-Governmental Organizations

Organizations representing civil society have made major contributions to the advancement of public health, health care, and human rights in Israel and the occupied Palestinian Territory. They have worked to provide care that is not available from government agencies, and to address human rights violations, in the oPT. Two of the major organizations engaged in this work, Physicians for Human Rights-Israel and the Palestinian Medical Relief Society, maintain an active collaboration in both clinical care and training, as well as advocacy to advance the human rights of the Palestinian population living under military occupation in the oPT. This session will report on the ongoing work of these organizations and their active collaboration, which remains one of the few direct links between civil societies within Israel and the oPT.