Israel must let us help Palestine

As a medic and MP, I wanted to bear witness to the suffering in the West Bank. But Israel denied us entry

Sitting in the rather shabby waiting room in passport control at the Jordan River/Sheikh Hussein Crossing, hoping to get from Jordan to Israel, and then on to the West Bank, didn’t feel very dramatic.

Under the pale blue passport control sign, waiting for hours to see if we could get into the country, I decided to Google what altitude we were at. It turned out that we were 413m below sea level, the lowest point on earth. The heat that had been bearable in Amman now felt as if we were at the bottom of a large trench. Airless and sweltering, it was as if we were genuinely at the bottom of the world.

I suppose being declined entry initially was a bit of a moment, but at that point there were phone calls to be made on both sides, and then, after a few hours, we were escorted to a bus back to the Jordanian side of the border.

So there was no big drama, just a series of contacts and engagements and we were on our way back across the Jordan valley to Amman.

How different from what my colleagues working in Gaza and the West Bank have to endure. Exact numbers are hard to come by, but somewhere in excess of 1,500 healthcare workers have been killed by the Israeli army in Gaza over the last two years, and a further 25-30 killed in the West Bank. They are all the victims of what appears to be a deliberate policy designed to deny Palestinians medical help and further, to intimidate those of us who could help. The position of the Israeli government appears to be that it wants Palestinians to die and it doesn’t want people to help them.

How different too from the daily lived experience of healthcare workers in the West Bank (setting aside the UN-acknowledged genocide in Gaza). I was unable to see for myself, but I know and understand the figures. Israel has an obligation under international law to provide health services for the West Bank. This should be, and has previously been, organised and delivered by the Palestinian Authority, funded by money raised by the Israeli government from import/export taxes on Palestinian goods. The money owed amounts to more than $1bn.

Workers and suppliers have not been paid. The infrastructure has not been maintained. The shortages of even the most basic supplies get worse on a daily basis. The control that Israel has means that when they choose to, they can also stop medical workers and aid supplies from getting into the West Bank.

This is effectively war by financial starvation, exacted through the healthcare system on the most vulnerable people in the territory.

I have been a doctor for more than 30 years. I feel a responsibility to bear witness to those things that, as a medic, I can understand and appreciate – I know how healthcare works, and I know when it doesn’t.

As an MP, I have a similar responsibility to my constituents, and, I think, a wider population. I have a voice that many do not. As a Labour MP, I also sit on the same side as the government. I believe that we have come a long way on this issue, rightly, and I commend the work of the Foreign Office and others.

But we have so much more to do. I believe that the UN’s declaration of a genocide should be the spur to the government to finally and irrevocably stop any and all arms exports to Israel, stop the training of Israeli security forces on UK soil and bring to an end any and all succour to the Israeli state.

The majority of people in Israel are opposed to the war and desperately want to find a way of living and working alongside their neighbours. There are organisations that work tirelessly to promote peace and understanding and to build the links between people on all sides. The Israeli and Palestinian working classes have far more in common than they do with those who lead them.

Letting in two older doctors who wanted to try to do their bit for peace wasn’t really a big ask. But it proved to be too much for a state that seems unable to begin to find a way out of the horror it finds itself mired in.