The Palestinian territories: barriers to healthcare and medical education and the strategic role of distance-learning partnerships in education systems strengthening

摘要

The Israel-Palestine conflict remains one of the most intractable and polarizing conflicts in the world. Originating with the formation of Israel in 1948 from the British Mandate of Palestine, the dispute has resulted in numerous wars, military operations and tens of thousands of civilian casualties (UNISPAL 2013). The Second Palestinian Intifada ('Uprising'), a period of intensified violence beginning in late 2000, led to a series of widespread measures by the Israeli authorities that have radically affected day-to-day life for Palestinians living in the West Bank, including the continued construction of the Israel-West Bank barrier wall, restriction on movements of Palestinians in the West Bank and to specialist health centres and religious sites in East Jerusalem, and expansion of the Israeli settlement apparatus, (UNISPAL 2013).