When a rubber bullet pierced the eyes of a child in the occupied Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood of East Jerusalem, when a woman was mixed with “stinky water” (a chemical that smells like rotten eggs and sewers) The mixture), these are clearly directed at violent and inhumane Palestinians. However, the oppression of Palestinians by Israel is not limited to such attacks.

The lives of Palestinians are subject to many forms of exclusion and discrimination, just like the violence imposed on them every day, affecting their health and well-being. They all need the humanitarian response of Médecins Sans Frontières (Médecins Sans Frontières).

But when MSF repairs wounds, treats COVID-19 patients, provides mental health care or accepts trauma patients in the emergency room, we are not treating patients in a political vacuum. We are treating the consequences of settler colonialism and apartheid, for which we have no medicine to cure.

Settler colonialism led to the forced displacement of Palestinians, and Israeli settlements in the West Bank expanded rapidly, taking place in the context of the longest military occupation in history, which is now more than 70 years old. Settler’s colonialism includes the transfer of citizens of the occupying power to its occupied territories. This has been happening in Palestine since 1948, and the evacuation of Palestinians from the land in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood is the latest example of this ongoing process.

The Palestinians were forcibly displaced and isolated in enclaves, where they were governed by rules that ensured that they were constantly occupied and conquered. The oppressive rules governing the lives of Palestinians do not apply to settlers who live on the hills above or in confiscated houses near them. This is real-time segregation.

Humanitarian organizations such as Doctors Without Borders (MSF) have encountered difficulties in resolving the root causes of humanitarian crises. We are an emergency organization, an ambulance of a non-governmental organization. This makes us unsuitable for dealing with socio-economic and political conditions aimed at enriching the ruling class. However, it is from this ambulance that we can see how settler colonialism and apartheid affect the health of our patients and require our work.

A MSF clinic in Gaza was damaged in an Israeli airstrike on May 15 [Courtesy of MSF]

For example, only a few months ago, MSF’s medical team witnessed how to vaccinate the Israeli population while deliberately excluding Palestinians living in the occupied territories. Every day, checkpoints, barriers, permit requirements, discrimination, economic collapse, and damage from permanent occupations hinder our patients’ access to healthcare services.

To this day, we still do not need to take humanitarian action in Israel, because even if rockets are fired into civilian areas, people can get medical care and protection from the country.

The crime of apartheid is defined as “inhumane acts committed to establish and maintain the domination of one ethnic group over other ethnic groups and systematically oppress them”. Today’s Israel, by design, is either the sole rulership or the main control over the Palestinians from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean; there is no doubt that its policy towards the Palestinian people constitutes apartheid.

With the firm support of some Western governments, Israel’s apartheid policy deprived, besieged, killed, maimed, imprisoned and isolated Palestinians.

They prohibit Palestinians from travelling on “Israel only” roads and restrict them from crossing certain checkpoints without proper permission. They often lead to torture of detained children and prisoners. They enable Palestinians to be forced to leave their homes. They protect armed Israeli settlers and are able to use indiscriminate violence against Palestinians.

The Palestinians condemned this reality, and civil society groups, jurists, human rights organizations and countless others have also acknowledged this reality. Only the perpetrators and their supporters disputed this.

In the past week, bombs continued to fall on Gaza, killing approximately 198 people, including multiple family members of MSF staff. The MSF clinic has been damaged, and ambulances can barely pass through the bomb pit on the road leading to the main Shifa Hospital. In other parts of Palestine, protesters continued to besiege, beat and shoot with rubber bullets.

MSF will continue to heal the wounds of this violence, but only with the end of settler colonialism and apartheid can the suffering of the Palestinians be cured.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial position of Al Jazeera.