The following letter supports the decision of the European Network for Mental Health Service Evaluation not to hold its 2021 conference in Israel.
To the Members of the Executive Board of the European Network for Mental Health Service Evaluation (ENMESH):
We, the undersigned, belong to organizations that have hundreds of members, most of whom are mental health professionals—psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, nurses, and those in allied disciplines such as public health. Many of us are published researchers, award-winning professionals and renowned in our field.
We are writing to express our support for the decision of ENMESH to hold its 2021 conference outside of the state of Israel. We understand that this was a “practical decision, not a political or permanent decision,” as mentioned on your website. We also understand that you took the decision because you felt that ENMESH did not have “adequate resources to handle the type of campaign to which some conferences held in Israel are subject.”
Surely, international conferences held in Israel might have to face to campaigns to dissuade people from participating and this might create additional work and effort.
However, we would argue that your decision is wise not only on practical grounds but more importantly on ethical ones. Your decision underscores the significance of the mental health professions ethic of “do no harm.” Holding a conference in Israel indirectly supports a government whose abuse and oppression of the Palestinian people has been going on for over 70 years.
Please allow us to explain: The Israeli government continues to engage in human rights violations and violations of international law (see UN report); ethnic cleansing has not abated (see map of ethnic cleansing; houses are bulldozed daily even though the owners have not been found guilty of a crime (see example from Haaretz newspaper); every night the Israeli Occupation Force raids the homes of Palestinians to terrorize the population and crush their spirit (listen to IDF soldiers or this); electricity, food, and water are rationed (see report from The Guardian on limiting calorie input in Gaza, half of its population are children).
Gaza is the largest open-air prison on earth. The siege of Gaza has been maintained for years. Parents find every way possible to send their children to safety elsewhere, knowing that they may never see them again. The people of Gaza’s peaceful attempt to express their desire for liberation in what was known as the “Great March of Return” was met with violence and killing. (See https://www.ochaopt.org/content/gaza-health-sector-still-struggling-cope-great-march-return-injuries.
Please also see WHO EMRO – Situation reports 2019 – Information resources – Iraq).
We share the view of ENMESH that protesting the actions of the Israeli government does not target all individuals who are citizens of Israel. Moreover, we share the hope that the need for protests is temporary and that the state of Israel will soon desist from its 70-year pattern of land confiscation, home demolition, arrest, imprisonment, and torture of children, extrajudicial assassination, shooting peaceful demonstrators, mass detention without trial, and restriction of movement—as well as granting full citizenship to all of its residents. Meanwhile, we encourage the members of the Executive Board to stand firm by its decision regarding holding its 2021 conference elsewhere, not only to avoid controversy but to embrace human rights as an inviolate element of health, and to stand up for those rights in the name of mental health, public health, and human decency.
We welcome a conversation with you going forward,
With respectful regards,
Palestine-Global Mental Health Network, Steering Committee
info@pgmhn.org)
USA-Palestine Mental Health Network, Steering Committee
https://usapalmhn.org/
UK-Palestine Mental Health Network, Steering Group
https://ukpalmhn.com/
