The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of the movement.
What did the Palestinian Authority understand regarding the training of its physicians in its institutions, in the brief period of time in which it has existed in Judea, Samaria and Gaza? Does the Authority, in which five faculties of medicine were established in the years 1994-2020, understand something that the State of Israel has failed to grasp, despite having six faculties of medicine in its universities, the first of which was founded in May of 1949 in the Hebrew University in Jerusalem?
The History of Medical Education in the Palestinian Authority
Although the Palestinian Authority has a brief medical education history, we can still learn a thing or two from it, from strategic national context to its care for the local students.
Already in the 1980s, the Arab-Palestinian medical community understood that the future of their independent medical services was in trouble.
The decision to establish a medical school in Judea and Samaria (in “Palestine”, as far as they are concerned) was a strategic move for the local population. The decision derived primarily from the aspiration to be medically independent, including the need to conduct medical education and training for doctors in preparation for their residency, supposedly to provide significant service to the nascent state.
Until that period, Arab youth received their medical education abroad and were forced to contend with the challenges that are also familiar to many Israeli youth, since training abroad was, as they put it, “expensive with a limited number of opportunities, which led to a brain drain (youth who never returned from abroad in order to work and live in “Palestine”)”. They further added and clarified that “this meant that the number of medical services available to the public were limited. I.e. – it was necessary to refer many patients for treatment abroad”, including in Israel.
The first public “Palestinian” School of Medicine was opened in 1994. Since then, three additional schools were opened, to which we should also add the first private medical school with American aid. In total, there are five faculties of medicine throughout Judea, Samaria and Gaza only for Arabs!
The first Faculty of Medicine was opened at Al-Quds University in Jerusalem and for good reason. This was a strategic decision of political significance in a location that is perceived as the most politically central, symbolic and significant to the “Palestinian state” whose future capital is in “Al-Quds”, which is Jerusalem. The medical school that opened in 1994, had initially accepted only 34 students. In order to make the education more accessible for students outside of Jerusalem, and due to constraints in time, space and freedom of movement for those whose free movement was not possible for security reasons, it opened campuses in Nablus and Gaza for students in the first pre-medical stage. In order to complete the two remaining stages, the students moved to the primary campus in Jerusalem. Currently, over 2,300 medical students are registered, with an expectation to accept no less than 250 new students every year.
In 1999, the Faculty of Medicine in Al-Azhar University in Gaza was officially recognized. Since then, the faculty has received international recognition by the British Medical Council and by other states such as the United States, in which the medical school graduates can continue their studies and residencies.
In 2006, the faculty in An-Najah university in Nablus was recognized as a School of Medicine by the Palestinian Ministry for Higher Education. The school trains about 6,000 students for all medical professions (general medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, nursing and more) from all parts of “historical Palestine” as they define it. According to reports on social media this year, there are over 300 Arab Israelis who are studying medicine in Nablus alone.
That same year, the Islamic University of Gaza also opened its own Faculty of Medicine. This faculty prides itself for 753 graduates over the past decade (2012-2022), who engage in their fields of expertise in 17 different countries around the world. This after each and every one of them had successfully completed their research assignment and passed all the necessary exams, including the international qualifications exams (IFOM).
As stated, there are currently four independent schools of medicine, two of which are in the Gaza Strip, one in Nablus and one in Abu Dis near Jerusalem. These educational institutions are primarily supported by the British Foundation for Medical Schools in Al-Quds University (FQMS), which was founded in 1997 for the purpose of promoting the independence of the Palestinian health system via education. This Foundation partnered with 7 different foundations with a clear Palestinian agenda. The Foundation and its partners encourage Arab Palestinian students to study medicine and even assist them with subsidies for their education and welfare, alongside assistance in coordinating residencies for graduates in hospitals throughout the UK.
Aside from these four schools, the Palestinian Authority’s Ministry for Higher Education and Scientific Research also recognized, in August 2020, Faculty of Medicine in the private American-Arab University in Jenin, which is supported by the United States and over half of its students are Arabs with Israeli IDs.
An Arabs Only University
The number of Israeli Arabs that attend the Arab universities in the Palestinian Authority in Judea and Samaria increases with each passing year and is estimated at about 15,000 students per year. Over 6,000 of them attend Jenin University alone, as was reported by the journalist Gal Berger in his article for ‘Kan 11’ on November 29, 2021. As stated, about a sixth of the students in An-Najah University in Nablus Are also Arab Israelis (over 4,000); in Bir Zeit University north of Ramallah, they constitute about a fifth (about 3,500); in the Hebron and Abu Dis universities near Jerusalem together, there are close to 2,000 additional students. Thus, Arab Israelis enjoy the best of all worlds, of all the options and all the faculties since these options are open to them in the Palestinian Authority and in the neighboring Arab countries, as shall be specified further on. It turns out that the Israeli law that prohibits Israelis, regardless of who they are, from entering the Palestinian Authority does not apply when dealing with Arabs. As we all know, they are protected from lynchings, may pass through checkpoints without fear of arrest, and of course – enjoy the option of learning in the local universities and residing in the dormitories, renting apartments or return to their parents’ home in the State of Israel and they enjoy maximum rights without needing or being required to fulfill obligations. That is how it is when you are an Arab Israeli who lives peacefully and securely in the State of Israel, enjoying the pleasures of the “occupation” and exploiting the “apartheid”, which actually discriminates against the “landlords” – the Jewish suckers.
Arab youth who possess an Israeli ID, can study in any other country of their choice, if they stumbled on their easier and preferred path in the medical faculties in the embracing and pampering State of Israel, or in one of five Palestinian faculties that are closer to their homes. Thus, they can actually choose one of the many racist faculties of medicine in Arab countries, which are accessible to them as Arabs and prohibited to the Jews, despite the peace treaties, neighborly relations and unilateral cooperations, under which Israel periodically accepts residents, patients and even the family members of certain leaders.
The following are examples and figures from the faculties of medicine throughout the Middle East, that are open to Israel’s Arabs but closed to its Jews: in Jordan – 6 faculties, with between 100 to 300 Arab Israelis studying in Amman faculty alone; in Lebanon – 7 faculties; in Syria – 7 faculties; in Egypt – 31 faculties of medicine in 27 universities; in Saudi Arabia – 27 faculties; in Iraq – 19 faculties; the Emirates – 6 faculties; Yemen – 9 faculties; Qatar – 2 faculties; Oman – 2 faculties; Kuwait – one faculty. For the avoidance of doubt – the academic standards in quite a few of these faculties is high and meets western standards, such as the Faculty of Medicine in Jordan, which is adapted to the British methodology, and the private university in Jenin that operates in cooperation with the University of California, which advises it academically and operationally, as well as the University of Utah in the United States.
The Arabs have More Options to Learn and Engage in the Field of Medicine
The article “Manpower in the Health Professions 2020” of the Ministry of Health on the issue of manpower in the health professions, which was published for the purpose of aiding decision makers and researchers in planning manpower in the health professions in Israel, notes the number of new medical licenses that were issued by the state in 2020.
The article shows that 1,835 new medical licenses were issued in 2020. 664 of which, constituting 36% of the total, were issued to graduates of faculties in Israel, and 51% to Israelis graduating abroad, both Jews and Arabs. The number of licenses for graduates in Israel did increase to 664, almost twice as many as in 2010 and relative to previous decades, however an increase was also recorded simultaneously in the number of Israelis graduating abroad: 942 in 2020 compared with 195 in 2010, and 111 in 2005 of all licenses.
Of all the licenses granted to Israelis who graduated abroad in 2020, we can determine quite clearly that there are places where only Arabs studied. We would note the figure of 55 students who attended the Faculties of Medicine in the Palestinian Authority – a figure that constitutes a significant increase from previous years, 32 in Jordan, 24 in Egypt and only four in Syria, as a result of the ongoing civil war there. Considering the figure that was published, whereby almost half (46%) of the new licenses issued in 2020 were issued to Arabs and Druze, we can conclude that they were not excluded or discriminated relative to their overall number in the Israeli population. Quite the opposite – they had far more options to study medicine in a far greater variety of institutions than any average Israeli-Jewish citizen.
The overall number of physicians registered in Israel as of 2020 stood at 41,610. Only 16,171 of them studied medicine in Israel, Jews and Arabs alike. The remainder studied in faculties of medicine throughout the world, of which we can determine with great certainty that those who studied in Arab countries were Arabs, such as those 608 who studied in Jordan, 294 in Egypt and 199 in Syria.
An examination of the field of dentistry shows that 440 new dentistry licenses were issued in 2020, of which 24% were for graduates in Israel and 61% for Israelis who graduated abroad, Arabs and Jews alike. Among the graduates of studies in foreign countries, 90 were from the Palestinian Authority, which constitute about 20% of those entitled, and from Egypt – 26 physicians. It should be noted that this profession has also seen a significant increase in the number of graduates from faculties in the Palestinian Authority. It should also be noted that in the last decade, according to a publication from the Ministry of Health, 53% of the total new licenses in dentistry were granted to Arabs and Druze.
At the end of 2020, about a quarter (26%) of the total number of dentists up to age 67 graduated in Israel and about half (48%) graduated in Eastern Europe. Of the remaining quarter – 5% are graduates of faculties in the Palestinian Authority, 4% in Jordan, 2% in Syria and the remainder in other countries. Another figure indicates that of the 12,373 dentists in Israel – only 3,233 studied in Israel, regardless of religion, race and gender. This while being able to determine that among those 516 who studied in the Palestinian Authority, 408 in Jordan, 185 in Syria and 95 in Egypt, apparently there was not even a single Israeli Jew among them.
Recommendations
The medical profession in Israel is experiencing difficulties and significant gaps that necessitate extensive reforms. Many reputable experts dealt with and wrote in depth reports on the matter, including recommendations for the coming years, assuming a stable government that would succeed in promoting and implementing practical decisions on the issue.
A significant portion of the important reports and respectable recommendations, not to mention all of them, make no mention of the need to clearly and absolutely prioritize young Israelis who served and continue to serve their country faithfully, whether in the army, the national or civil service, regardless of differences in religion, race and gender. This, over any other citizen who shirked his responsibilities to society and the nation, or a foreign student and resident who did not make Aliyah and whose status is that of a tourist.
We must immediately and legally employ a clear affirmative action in every university and workplace, openly and shamelessly, to every discharged soldier who completed their service in full and will apparently continue to serve in the reserve; to all those who volunteered to the national and civil service and contributed to the entire Israeli public wherever they are; to IDF disabled people and those injured in terrorist attacks, to families of the severely disabled and certainly to bereaved families for whom the children remaining in Israel constitute a significant, essential and necessary support, both physically and mentally.
In addition, we must also stipulate in the law that any person regarding whom there is information that he supported or supports a terrorist entity, who does not recognize the State of Israel and its right to exist in safe borders and/or objects to the very nature of the State of Israel as a Jewish state – may not study in Israeli academic institutions, shall not be entitled to any benefit or scholarship from the state and that his citizenship would be at risk of revocation. Put simply – such supporter of terrorism should be so kind as to study in other academic institutions throughout the Middle East, which honor, praise and glorify terrorists, antisemites and various detractors of Israel, at his own expense.
We should adopt the proposed amendment to the Penal Code, which prohibits the flying of the flag of a hostile entity, from 5779-2018, which had been proposed at the time by the former Knesset Member Anat Berko. Thus, we may prevent the flying of the flags of Hamas, the PLO and others on campuses, Israeli institutions and on highways.
We must clarify to every student who was party to an act of terrorism, express public support for terrorism or enemies of Israel while studying abroad – that it would be best that he remained there. This is due to the fact that his legal acceptance to an educational institution in Israel would not be allowed/ He would be required to return any benefit he was granted and it is entirely possible he would be required to deposit his Israeli citizenship and passport with immigration officials prior to leaving the country permanently.
Finally, legislation is required in Israel in order to recognize the status of Israeli students studying abroad, such as: recognition by Social Security, scholarships, financial conditions (a student account, benefits in loans and exchange of foreign currency), student benefits in transportation, culture and the like while residing on vacation in Israel. The state of Israel must do its best to return our finest sons and daughters to Israel from forced exile, this after it was not wise enough to prioritize them over draft dodgers and disloyal citizens. A country that did not allow its faithful servants, common and combat soldiers as well as elite officers, to remain in the country they grew up in and defended with their own bodies, to acquire the education that is essential to it now or in the future.
Summary
The State of Israel is required to legislate a law that prioritizes by way of affirmative action those of its citizens who have proved their loyalty to it, so they may reside in it with dignity, to acquire a proper education and to build in it their adult lives.
I am not calling for expulsion or exclusion of Arabs in general from the state or universities in Israel, but simply to give preference by law to any citizen who supports, is loyal to and performs military, national or civil service for the state.
Those Arabs who choose to shirk their duty to society, which allows them more than any other Middle Eastern country to defame the best state for them in the immediate area and to support our enemies in times of trouble and calm, have additional options that are not available or accessible to most young, law-abiding and life-desiring citizens of Israel.
We must recognize that the allegedly “apartheid” policy is applied primarily against Jews, in prohibiting their entry into cities or areas under the control of the Palestinian Authority, and of course in denying them the right to be accepted to school in places where the universities teach in-demand subjects such as medicine and engineering, to the high standard that is acceptable in Israel in particular, and in the Arab world and the western world in general.
We must allow the primarily Israeli and Jewish youth, who contributed to society with years of service, national service, who excelled in the military and even became commanders and officers – to study in Israel and receive a clear preference to study preferred subjects such as medicine. If this is not possible due to limited places and allocations – the state must reach an arrangement with them that would support them and ensure their speedy return to Israel. This in comparison with those Arab students, who are used to treating the country like they own it, sponsored by the naïve Jewish taxpayer, who wave Palestinian flags while opposing Israel and favoring terrorists in academic institutions, hospitals, courthouses and other public locales.
Knesset Members and ministers from the Zionist parties, who are not confused over values and who still feel a national pride within themselves, are required to pass significant legislation in the next Knesset. It is time that the exploiters, detractors and enemies of the state, who were called to the (“Palestinian”) flag and accepted for studies in the institutions of the Zionist “occupier”, those established and supported by good Jews, should be sent merrily on their way to study in any one of the racist universities that are administered by Arabs, and which excludes Israeli-Jews.
