NEW YORK — For more than two decades several projects have been carried out between conflicting sides in several regions around the world that have improved public health as a common denominator in the search for peace.
Although these initiatives will not by themselves achieve peace, they are significant points of contact between conflicting parties. They have benefited thousands of people and increased understanding among them, and showed that sustained cooperation can be achieved despite violent disputes and a hostile political atmosphere.
Since its founding in 1988, the Association of Israeli-Palestinian Physicians for Human Rights has brought together Israeli and Palestinian health professionals. Following the signing of the Oslo agreement in 1993, a new set of players — aside from nongovernment organizations and human rights groups — came into action over the next four years, focusing on developing and providing health services to the Palestinian people.