The Fatah movement announced in a statement on Friday evening that it will not receive the Minister of Health and that the crisis between the governorate and the Minister of Health is ongoing until the President’s directives are implemented. This came against the backdrop of the failure to implement the President’s decisions to establish the Indian Hospital in Bethlehem and open the emergency department in the military hospital, according to the statement.

This is the full text of the statement as it arrived together:

In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.

‘O you who have believed, why do you say what you do not do? Great is hatred in the sight of God that you say what you do not do.’ God’s truth is the Great.

Issued by the Fatah Movement – Bethlehem Region.

It is no secret to anyone that events are escalating and the crises that the occupation is trying to drown our people in are ongoing. Since the beginning of the aggression on Gaza a year ago, and more on the West Bank and Jerusale
m, the processions of martyrs have continued, the prisons of the occupation are filled with the best of our people, and the settlers’ rampage in our countryside is increasing. The occupation persists in its settlement policies, deliberately increasing closures, barriers, and severing ties, trying to isolate the camps and countryside and separate them from the city centers, which has affected the service system. Here, it was necessary to confront this aggressive policy and separatist mentality with more extension of the presence and centers of sovereignty to all places of Palestinian presence with services that embody the unity of the Palestinian entity. In this context, and in light of what the Bethlehem Governorate is facing in terms of closures and strict barriers that are still in place to this day, the decision of His Excellency President Mahmoud Abbas to build a hospital in Bethlehem was made. This decision has not yet seen the light of day and has been circumvented and the Indian Hospital that was desig
nated for Bethlehem was transferred to a party that only the Ministry of Health knows about without explaining the reasons. In addition to this, the recent decision of His Excellency the President to operate the emergency department in the Palestine Military Hospital, the implementation of which is being procrastinated and delayed until a new promise to establish a hospital is reached.

These promises that have been ongoing for four years and the decisions of Mr. President, which should be nationally and morally binding on the implementing authorities, are still being delayed in their implementation, to the point of overcrowding of patients and the disruption of treatment transfers for patients at Beit Jala Hospital. The Ministry of Health bears responsibility for this, which until this moment has not issued anything or responded or addressed His Excellency the Governor of Bethlehem or the Health Directorate in Bethlehem.

We are facing this disregard for one of the most important rights of the citizens of Be
thlehem to provide a decent and fair health service, similar to the rest of the governorates of the homeland, and after the interventions of Mr. President, which have always had an impact on the hearts and minds of the people of this governorate, which are being undermined by incomprehensible and unacceptable actions from the Ministry of Health. We:

First: We place this statement and what it contains in the hands of Mr. President Abu Mazen for his review.

Second: The Minister of Health bears full responsibility for not implementing Mr. President’s recent decision and attempts to circumvent it.

Third: We will not receive the Minister of Health and we consider the crisis between the governorate and the Minister of Health to exist until the directives of Mr. President are implemented.

Fourth: We call on Prime Minister Dr. Mohammad Mustafa to intervene to implement the President’s directives regarding Bethlehem and to look into what the governorate is going through.

Despite our knowledge of the difficult con
ditions that our people are going through, we assure you that we would not have resorted to taking such a measure at such a time had it not been for the policy of turning our backs and procrastination pursued by the Ministry of Health, for which the Minister of Health bears responsibility in his official capacity.

We believe that this could have been avoided if the directives of President Abu Mazen, may God protect him, had been adhered to, which he issued in light of these conditions of struggle that he is waging and paying the price for with the steadfastness and sacrifice of our people.

As President Abu Mazen said, our people deserve to have all the elements of steadfastness available to them, and those who fail must be held accountable.

This is our promise and pledge to the people of Bethlehem Governorate that we will not neglect our demands and that we will stand up to every official who ignores the needs of Bethlehem Governorate.

Glory and immortality to our martyrs, freedom to our prisoners, return
to our deportees, and healing to our wounded.

It is a revolution until victory.

Fatah Movement, Bethlehem Region

Source: Maan News Agency