Medecins
du Monde, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society and Physicians for Human
Rights-Israel also said more than 100,000 pregnant women could face
difficulties in child birth and 130,000 children will no longer be
immunized once the 650-kilometer barrier is completed later this year.
"The wall has put Palestinian healthcare at risk,
both for patients and medical staff that have difficulties accessing or
are denied access to hospitals," MDM president Francois Jeanson told a
Ram Allah press conference at the launch of a joint campaign to
highlight the impact of the barrier on health.
Dire consequences
Yunis al-Khatib, who heads the Palestinian Red
Crescent Society, said 200,000 Palestinians living in 22 enclaves are
already denied free and open access to healthcare.
More than a third of the West Bank's 2.3 million
strong population will see their freedom of movement badly hampered
once the barrier is built, he added.
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Although deemed illegal Israel is
continuing to build the wall |
Ruchama
Marton, a psychiatrist by training who heads Physicians for Human
Rights-Israel, highlighted the dire psychological effects of the
barrier on both Israelis and Palestinians.
"The main goal of the wall is to hide the
Palestinians from the Israelis because otherwise it may be possible to
identify with their suffering and see them as human beings," she
charged.
She said the barrier, which often juts deep into
Palestinian land, is "depriving Palestinians of the freedom of movement
which is the essence of life."
Despite a non-binding International Court of Justice
ruling last July that the barrier is illegal, Israel has vowed to
complete its construction.