ABSTRACT

The idea of a Palestinian state has been the subject of endless debate in international forums. The health facilities in the West Bank are lacking by European standards, but they are relatively well run and completely Palestinian. Palestinian hospitals have taken up the slack while rejecting the ephemeral Israeli attempts to help. Palestinian doctors Rustum Al Nammari, Wafiq Nazzal, Samir Abu Khalaf and Selim Al Husseini are full of an infectious sense of responsibility and hospital facilities are being expanded both vertically and horizontally, in terms of the extent of services and their quality and depth. Palestinian organizations, political, religious and otherwise, vie as to who has more vans, offers broader services and visits more villages. The Palestine Liberation Organization has first-class medical teams as does the Islamic political movement, Hamas, along with the Catholic, Greek Orthodox and other religious groups and the Communist Party.