Israeli hospitals Admit to Segregating Arab Women in Maternity Wards

Israeli hospitals Admit to Segregating Arab Women in Maternity Wards

In several Israeli hospitals, maternity wards place Jewish and Arab women in separate rooms. (Photo: via Twitter)

Three hospitals in Israel admit that their policy is to separate maternity patients according to ethnicity. Palestinian women have found this practice insulting; some experts call it “apartheid.”

reposted from Palestine Chronicle

Three Israeli hospitals have admitted for the first time that they segregate Jewish and Arab women giving birth, at the women’s request.

In response to a lawsuit filed against four hospitals, three of them – Hadassah University Hospital on Mount Scopus, Jerusalem, Haemek Hospital in Afula and Soroka Medical Center in Be’er Sheva – have admitted in February that this is their policy, while the Galilee Medical Center in Nahariya, which is also included in the lawsuit, denies it.

Kupat Holim Clalit, the health maintenance organization representing Soroka and Haemek, has told the Jerusalem District Court that separating mothers in labor is part of life in Israel’s reality.

“Not respecting the wishes of mothers for specific placement creates an ‘enforced communal hospital stay’ when both sides are not interested in this. The purpose of their stay is not to create an artificial melting pot.”

Hadassah Mount Scopus told the court that,

“Given the differences between various populations, women often request to be in a room with other women from their own community. Hadassah, where possible, accedes to these requests.”

The hospital says that these requests are most common among ultra-Orthodox women, in an attempt to observe the Sabbath and kashrut laws, as well as modesty and other customs.

Some Arab women also request to be in different rooms. “This is understandable, given the different languages the women speak,” says the hospital.

Haaretz first reported the lawsuit filed by four Arab women last year. The women included recordings of conversations with hospital staff and demanded 20,000 shekels ($5,500) in compensation for being insulted by the segregation.

In one recording, a nurse is heard supporting the segregation, where there are available rooms.

“If there is pressure, we do mix the women, but try to separate them the next day.”

The lawsuit includes the testimony of a social worker, who had her three children at Mount Scopus. She testified that when giving birth to her third child in 2017, after the segregation was reported, she was put in a room with Arab women only, making her feel “humiliated.”


RELATED READING:

Is Israel an apartheid state? Rhetoric or reality

Can you say “Israeli apartheid”? 200 Jewish-only communities approved

For NYT, Israel Is Always Nearing ‘Apartheid,’ but Never Quite Gets There

Israeli Police Raid Hospital 50th Anniversary Celebration because it’s too Palestinian

Amnesty Int’l: Israeli forces carry out violent hospital raids in ruthless display of force

 

Enter your email address below to receive our latest articles right in your inbox.