Peacebuilders bring tent clinic to Gaza

In the chaos of war in Gaza, healthcare is sorely needed, not just for those wounded by the fighting. Without clean water or good nutrition, wounds frequently become infected, skin conditions are rife, and usually manageable conditions like heart disease and diabetes become life-threatening.

Among the aid organisations trying to help is Project Rozana, an Australian initiative that promotes cooperation between Palestinians and Israelis through healthcare. With the American Near East Refugee Agency (ANERA), Project Rozana has established a mobile tent clinic, providing everything from surgery to dermatology, paediatrics and gynaecology to the area’s displaced residents.

Australian-born Israeli Ronit Zimmer, CEO of Project Rozana, said the organisation works with local partners to provide care on the ground. “Health is a human right,” she told The Jewish Independent.

Founded by Australian Ron Finkel, Rozana’s projects include education initiatives, such as a program to train Israeli and Palestinian nurses together and fellowships for Palestinian doctors to train in Israel. In its Wheels of Hope program, Israeli volunteers drive Palestinians from the occupied territories to Israeli hospitals for medical care.

But Rozana’s work has inevitably been affected by the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, said Zimmer. It has been harder for volunteer drivers to transport Palestinians and the IDF has not permitted Israeli medical professionals to work in Gaza. Wheels of Hope’s daily minibus, which had been transporting Gazans from the Erez crossing to Israel, has moved to the West Bank, where movement has also become more restricted under tightened security conditions.

The tent clinic with ANERA is a way Rozana can help on the ground, where the need is greatest. In September and October the clinic treated 16,000 civilians in Khan Younis and Deir al-Balah.

In response to the recent detection of a rare polio strain in Gaza’s water, the team is administering polio vaccines, prioritising 300,000 children under five who require multiple doses by their fifth birthday.

The Gaza crisis has forced Rozana into an emergency aid response. But its preferred means of operation is capacity building. Training Palestinian medical professionals is high on its agenda and a context in which Israelis are well-placed to help.

Director of Advocacy Mohamed Asideh says a shift away from an aid-based approach is essential for building the capacity of Palestinians to run their own lives. “Ninety-two percent of donations to Palestine go toward aid,” he said. “While this is critical, it does little to address the structural issues keeping Palestinians dependent. What we need is development funding that builds long-term capacity, particularly in healthcare.”

Asideh said Palestinians and Israelis away from the political and military context are very able to work together.

“Many Palestinians have Israeli friends. We don’t have a problem with Israelis as people; our problem is with military occupation. Full normalisation is possible if there is a two-state solution. That deal is still on the table, and the best interests of both Israelis and Palestinians lie in living in peace.”

Rozana CEO Ronit Zimmer, Director of Programming Diana Shehade-Nama and Director of Advocacy Mohammed Asideh will visit Australia in November to talk with invited audiences and raise funds for Project Rozana.

Ittay Flescher contributed to this report.