The Lancet -Palestinian Health Alliance (July 3, p 7)1 provides unfortunate evidence that a political agenda inexorably debases medical science. There are many regions of the world with far more pressing public health problems than those experienced in Gaza, the West Bank, and the portions of Jerusalem occupied by Jordan between 1948 and 1967. But given this prominent effort by The Lancet, one would at least hope for reasonable science by investigators committed to objective evaluation of data.
Richard Horton writes not just of improving health, but of devising “long-term solutions to the many and varied health injustices that Palestinian people face”, 1 attributed explicitly to Israel. The accompanying Comment 2 by Birzeit University students is an unsubstantiated polemic that makes a variety of misleading if not dishonest assertions. It would be promptly rejected if it dealt with any other topic as not befitting a medical evidence-based publication. Under a genuinely repressive regime, by contrast with Israel’s benign administration, the paper and its authors would be unlikely to see the light of day.
For the accompanying abstracts published online-only, there is no evidence of true peer review nor of genuine scientific analysis. No mention is made anywhere in print or online of the fact that life expectancy in Gaza is 73·68 years and on the West Bank 74·78 years-both higher than Egypt, for example, and in the top half of the world’s nations according to the American Central Intelligence Agency. 3 Infant mortality on the West Bank and Gaza is likewise well within the middle of the range for the world’s nations. 4 The West Bank, still under at least partial Israeli control and benefiting from the availability of Israeli medical care, surpasses China, Turkey, Libya, and Mexico in that regard.
It is hard to explain on any rational grounds why The Lancet has chosen to make a unique and selective focus on these disputed territories. A broader Lancet-inspired scientific health alliance for the area, including research coming from the many Israeli medical institutions where Jewish, Muslim, and Christian physicians work side by side and publish research together, might be a useful contribution to both medicine and peace. Unfortunately, publication of papers that are thinly disguised polemics posing as thoughtful scientific treatises takes the world further from not closer to the Editor’s stated goal.
We declare that we have no conflicts of interest.
References
1 Horton R. The Lancet-Palestinian Health Alliance in 2010. Lancet 2010; 376: 7-8. CrossRef | PubMed
2 Abeer A, Yaha A, Abu Qara AA, et al. Making the future ours in the occupied Palestinian territory. Lancet 2010; 376: 8-11. Full Text | PDF(244KB) | CrossRef | PubMed
3 Central Intelligence Agency. Country comparison: life expectancy at birth. World Factbook, 2010. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2102rank.html. (accessed July 27, 2010).
4 Central Intelligence Agency. Country comparison: infant mortality rate. World Factbook, 2010. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2091rank.html. (accessed July 27, 2010).
http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736%2810%2961377-3/fulltext