Israeli necropolitics and the pursuit of health justice in Palestine
Layth Hanbali, Edwin Jit Leung Kwong, Amy Neilson, James Smith, Sali Hafez, Rasha Khoury
Abstract
We abhor the continuation and acceleration of the Israeli state's systemic violence against the Palestinian people. We reassert that resolution of the settler colonial root causes of violence in Palestine is central to the pursuit of justice and peace. The moral foundations of global health and medical practice require us to prioritise and foreground oppressed realities, and to practise epistemic resistance. Framing Palestinian violence on October 7 as provocation and Israeli violence as response is ahistoric and indicates indifference to the everyday violence experienced by Palestinians. The Israeli state practises both fast violence against Palestinians, while simultaneously creating the conditions for their ‘slow death’. The systematic targeting and destruction of the health system and healthcare workers in Gaza has been central to Israel's military strategy, while many Israeli officials have expressed clear genocidal intent. The occupation of Palestine demonstrates the horrors of Israeli necropolitics, which leads to the creation of 'death-worlds' in which people survive and resist in perpetual proximity to death.