Democratic Palestine : 21 (ص 30)
غرض
- عنوان
- Democratic Palestine : 21 (ص 30)
- المحتوى
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Palestinian camps. These employ poor
Palestinian and Lebanese women,
chiefly those from the families of
martyrs. The aim is to encourage these
women’s participation in the revolu-
tion, while giving them the opportunity
to support themselves and their fami-
lies. The PFLP is working to develop
these activities and extend them to most
areas where there are Palestinians
living.
SUPPORTING THE
FAMILIES OF MARTYRS
AND PRISONERS
The PFLP’s social committees
everywhere show special concern in
caring for the families of our martyrs in
a thorough and correct way. As soon as
any PFLP fighter is martyred, repre-
sentatives of the social committee visit
the family to give condolences, having
in mind their social and economic
situation and political sentiments. The
social committee makes all needed
preparations for the martyr’s burial; it
pays for the burial expenses and pro-
vides whatever is necessary for cere-
monies up to the 40th day commemo-
ration.
The martyr is listed in the records of
the PLO’s institution for martyrs and
prisoners. The PFLP’s social com-
mittee continues to pay the martyr’s
salary to the family, including incre-
ments that the martyr would have
gotten with promotion if he had lived.
The committee visits the family at least
five times each year on religious holi-
days, May Ist, Martyrs’ Day and the
PFLP’s anniversary. The martyrs’
families receive monetary gifts based
on their economic needs. The social
visits aim to consolidate relations with
these families, keeping them informed
about political developments and
recruiting them into the PFLP’s mass
organizations.
The social committee keeps a file on
each family, updating it annually to
make sure that the martyr’s salary is
enough to sustain the family. The social
committee provides health insurance to
the martyrs’ families, so that they
receive the medical care they need free
of charge. The social committee also
encourages nationalist and humanita-
rian institutions and individuals to
adopt martyrs’ children financially.
Each year, on Martyrs’ Day, the social
committee arranges a commemoration
for the martyrs.
The same services are provided to the
families of prisoners and detainees
-salary, health insurance, regular social
visits, presents and honoring them on
the annual Palestinian Prisoners’ Day.
MEDICAL WORK
The medical field has the greatest
potential for humanitarian work
among the PFLP’s various social ser-
vices. Our masses, dispersed in diffe-
rent countries, live in conditions that
are far from ideal in terms of health.
30
Overcrowding, poverty, the absence of
education in health and hygiene, and
the dirtiness of the camps, all contri-
bute to general poor health and the
spread of disease. Despite limited
Capacities, the medical aspect of the
PFLP’s social work is constantly
improving.
The PFLP had established a clinic in
every Palestinian camp in Lebanon.
Some camps have medical centers,
including a dental clinic and X-ray
laboratory. In the camps near Tripoli in
North Lebanon, there is a clinic and a
polyclinic. In the camps near Beirut,
there are clinics in Burj Al Barajneh,
Shatila and Mar Elias camps. In the
Baalbeck area of East Lebanon, there is
a clinic in Al Jaleel camp. In South
Lebanon, there is a clinic and medical
center in Ain Al Hilweh camp, a clinic
in Miyeh Miyeh camp, and a clinic and
medical center in Rashidiya camp.
In Syria, there is a clinic and dispen-
sary in Yarmouk camp. The PFLP is
not now operating other clinics in
Syria, partly due to the fact that basic
medical needs are generally covered
here by the Palestinian Red Crescent
Society (P R CS). Moreover, the PFLP
has chosen to concentrate its capacities
in Lebanon, where the constant state of
war has created a more dramatic need.
In general, the PFLP’s clinics are not
intended as an alternative to those of
the PRCS. The PFLP’s clinics play a
supportive role, in the light of the fact
that PRCS resources have historically
been distributed in accordance with the
PLO leadership’s priorities. At times,
in accordance with the political situa-
tion prevailing within the PLO, there
has been good cooperation. A good
example was during the 1982 Israeli
invasion of Lebanon. The PFLP’s cli-
nics and entire medical staff were put at
the disposition of the PRCS. However,
with the onset of the PLO’s current
crisis, the situation became more diffi-
cult. With the right-wing leadership’s
control of finances, the amount of
money allotted to the PRCS’s work has
decreased in places where the need is
great.
The PFLP’s clinics are open to all,
free of charge, regardless of political
affiliation. Medicine, when available, is
given free. Through the PFLP’s
medical committee,full health insurance
is provided to all members and their
families, as well as to the families of
martyrs and detainees. The PFLP’s
clinics are open every day from 8 a.m.
to 8 p.m. In states of alert and emer-
gency cases, they are open 24 hours a
day, every day. Normally, thirty to
forty patients are treated a day on the
average, depending on the conditions in
the camp where the clinic is located. In
war times, the count is much higher.
PREVENTIVE MEDICINE
The PFLP’s medical committee
works in the preventive field as well as
the curative. It conducts educational
seminars in cooperation with mass
Organizations, such as the Palestinian
Women’s Organization and the Pales-
tinian Youth Organization. These cover
topics such as first aid, baby care,
family care, in addition to educational
seminars for the fighters. The medical
committee provides vaccinations for
children, free of charge.
In Lebanon, the PFLP’s medical
committee works closely together with
the medical facilities of the Lebanese
National Movement, providing doc-
tors, nurses and medicine when needed.
In cooperation with the Red Cross of
the socialist countries, the PFLP’s
medical committee provides treatment
for cases that cannot be treated locally.
This includes any member of the PFLP
and their families, any fighter and their
families, and the masses in general.
Besides extending medical treatment,
the socialist countries, especially the
Soviet Union, assist the medical work
in other ways, providing medicine,
training doctors and nurses, and dona-
ting funds for building clinics. The
medical committee needs all the help
that can be provided. Every tablet of
medicine is necessary. As yet, many
fighters don’t have a first aid kit, which
they should have, for this could save
their life in an emergency situation., The
medical committee has definite infor-
mation that medicine sent to the PFLP
sometimes rots in the depots of Arab
countries before reaching its destina-
tion. Many times, medicine that has
been donated never arrives. This is due
to political reasons, which affect even
this humanitarian aspect of the work.
The PFLP’s medical committee
provides scholarships for Palestinian
youth wanting to be trained as doctors.
Many return after their studies to
devote their work to their cause and
people, working with the PRCS or
PFLP medical facilities, but there is
still a need for more medical personnel
in all Palestinian camps.
The medical committee also sends
doctors to specialize in various fields of
medicine. All specializations are
needed. In the interim before all these
cadres have completed their specializa-
tion, the medical committee has esta-
blished contacts with specialists (gyne-
chologists, surgeons, eye doctors, etc.)
to which patients can be referred by the
PFLP’s own clinics. The fees are then
paid by the medical committee.
The medical committee has a super-
visory role in relation to all the other
social and mass organizations of the
PFLP. Medical cadres make regular
visits to the nurseries, kindergartens,
military training centers and hostels for
the fighters. They supervise the hygiene
in washrooms and kitchens to keep
them up to standard. They regularly
visit military bases to attend to the
fighters’ health needs.
The main obstacle for the work of
the PFLP’s medical committee is
financial limitations. Thus, the com-
mittee welcomes all donations and all
forms of support-medicine, equipment,
medical personnel, etc. - هو جزء من
- Democratic Palestine : 21
- تاريخ
- يناير ١٩٨٧
- المنشئ
- الجبهة الشعبية لتحرير فلسطين
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