The BBC this week drew attention to the plight of cancer patients living under the governance of the Palestinian Authority (PA) who are being denied treatment due to the chronic underfunding of a major hospital. The piece attempts to pin the PA’s financial woes on Israel.
The article, titled “The Palestinian cancer centre that can’t take patients,” by the British outlet’s Middle East correspondent Yolande Knell, describes how since September 2021 some 500 sick Palestinians have been turned away from the Augusta Victoria Hospital in eastern Jerusalem, which Knell calls “the main cancer centre for the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip.”
The piece states:
The PA says it is facing the worst financial crisis since it came into existence three decades ago.
Like others around the world, its economy has been hit by Covid and soaring inflation. However, it is also mired in problems linked to the Palestinians’ decades-old conflict with Israel.
Israel withholds vital tax revenues it collects on behalf of the PA because of the payments that it makes to Palestinians in Israeli jails and the families of those killed by Israeli forces. Israel argues that these encourage terrorism, while the Palestinians see them as welfare support.”
What goes unstated is that Ramallah allocates more than 7 percent of its annual budget to what has been termed a “Martyrs’ Fund” because of those who are the recipients of the cash. The individuals who receive these “salaries” are not simply “prisoners” as Knell labels them — they are convicted terrorists.
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Indeed, the amount of each monthly payment to such persons is dependent on the severity of the crime they committed. For example, someone who has carried out a particularly violent act that warrants a jail term of 30 years or more could receive up to $3,000 a month, which is more than double the average monthly salary of Palestinians.
The “Pay-for-Slay” policy that Palestinian leaders have refused to scrap has been criticized as an incentive for terrorism by Israeli, EU and US politicians alike. This is the reason that Israel has a policy of withholding tax revenues — until a time when the PA decides to abandon the fund.
Unreported by BBC: PA Corruption and Mismanagement
Knell goes on to state that the European Union has also “blocked millions of euros” in aid to the PA amid concerns about textbooks being used in schools that glorify violence and antisemitism. Knell neglects to mention that even despite such concerns, the EU still hands over tens of millions of euros a year in “humanitarian assistance to Palestine.”
Furthermore, in an article replete with finger-pointing about responsibility for the aforementioned funding problems, the only party that seemingly gets let off the proverbial hook is the one that actually shoulders most of the blame: the PA.
The PA has been dogged by allegations of corruption for years, including embezzling aid money that comes from the EU and mismanaging funds that are doled out by the bloc’s member states.
BBC Deletes Hamas From Gaza Strip
Later in the piece, Knell touches upon the situation in the Gaza Strip, using the case of a leukemia-stricken teenager from the coastal enclave, Salem al-Nawati, who reportedly collapsed and died at the PA Health Ministry in Ramallah:
Gaza hospitals are ill-equipped to treat many serious cancer cases and without East Jerusalem as an option, [Jamal al-Nawati’s] nephew was given a medical referral and PA financial guarantee to be treated in a private hospital in Nablus.
Israel – which controls access for Gazans to the West Bank – initially refused Salem a travel permit, his family says for security reasons, delaying his exit by a month. By the time he made it to Nablus, the hospital turned him away because its bills had gone unpaid by the PA.
Related Video: Unreported: PA Prioritizes Life of Palestinian Terrorist Over Palestinian Child
But while Knell points out that Gaza’s hospitals are not equipped to treat serious cancer patients, she does not attempt to explain why: Gaza’s rulers Hamas appear to have priorities other than treating sick citizens.
In fact, Hamas — designated a terrorist organization by the UK, EU and US — is not mentioned once in the entire article. Yet, as HonestReporting has detailed, Hamas has squirreled away funds totaling some $500 million, which is held in interests in various international companies based in the Middle East and North Africa.
In addition, much of the cash Hamas does spend within the Strip goes on military and terror expenses, rather than investment into critical infrastructure such as hospitals.
Knell highlights the fact that Israel controls access to the West Bank from Gaza, but again refrains from noting why this is — legitimate security concerns about a terror group that waged war on the Jewish state last May and has perpetrated countless attacks against innocent civilians.
Palestinians dying from treatable cases of cancer is a sad story, but by perpetuating a baseless blame Israel narrative, the BBC is obscuring who in fact is largely responsible for this human tragedy.
We call on the BBC to add missing context to the piece, particularly with regard to highlighting well-documented allegations of PA corruption and terrorist group Hamas’ role in governing the Gaza Strip. Please contact the BBC to – firmly but politely – register your concerns.
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Photo credit: TPS
