London, June 28, IRNA – British doctors are set to condemn Israel for causing healthcare crisis in Gaza at their annual conference in Brighton, southern England.
Two identical motions to be debated at the British Medical Association (BMA) conference on Thursday deplore the “restricted access to healthcare and intimidation suffered by medical staff in the Palestinian territories occupied and controlled by Israel.”
“There is a healthcare crisis in Gaza which is besieged. This Meeting expresses its solidarity with Palestinian doctors working under these intolerable conditions,” say the motions raised by the London Regional Council of doctors and Enfield and Haringey Division in north London.
According to copies obtained by IRNA, the motions also call on the BMA “to assist with support requested by Palestinian doctors so that they can provide the necessary care to their patients.”
A BMA spokeswoman said she was not aware of a report by the Jewish Chronicle news service, claiming that both motions had been eliminated at the last-minute by the conference agenda.
“The motions were not listed in amendments to the agenda,” the spokeswoman told IRNA, adding that she expected them to be debated as planned under the ‘Patients, Doctors and Human Rights’ section.
The Jewish Chronicle reported last week that the agenda committee had instead tabled its own resolution, “deploring all regimes which hamper the work of doctors and other medical staff but, significantly, does not single out any country.”
“Last year the BMA decided that if there was a motion criticising a particular country, it would consult the doctors there before it did anything else,” Professor David Katz, the chairman of the Jewish Medical Association, was quoted saying.
The BMA, Britain’s professional association for doctors, is also set to have its first Jewish president when Professor Sir Michael Marmot takes the post for the coming year, according to the Jewish Chronicle.