Arizona medical workers demand justice for Palestine during white coat rallies

Phoenix, Arizona - Arizona medical workers and supporters marched for Palestinian liberation and a permanent ceasefire in Gaza during white coat rallies in Phoenix and Tucson over the weekend.

Health care workers rally in Phoenix, Arizona, for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza and an end to Israeli genocide on December 3, 2023.
Health care workers rally in Phoenix, Arizona, for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza and an end to Israeli genocide on December 3, 2023.  © Screenshot/X/@PhxDSA

Donning white coats and scrubs, health care workers rallied in support of Gazans under siege in Tucson's Armory Park on Saturday and Phoenix's Eastlake Park on Sunday. They were joined by members of the wider community in both cities.

The actions, organized by the Arizona Palestine Solidarity Alliance and Mass Liberation Arizona, come as Israel has killed over 15,500 Gazans, including more than 6,000 children. Health workers on the ground have struggled to provide care to the Palestinian population as Israeli forces target hospitals and ambulances and block access to critical medical supplies.

"As a pediatric physician, I know what it feels when you witness your child becoming a motionless body," Palestinian-American pediatric radiologist Dr. Fidaa Wishah told the crowd in Phoenix.

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"I know what it feels when you try to disbelieve the truth, with no hope and no return and beg for a different reality. I know what it feels when you grip the body so tight, refusing to let go, refusing to let them take the body of your child away, forever away," she continued.

"Today, I wonder: those 6,000 young souls lost and became numbers on a list questioned by white man in a tie – how do you console a mother who has carried for nine months, then saw them grow in front of her eyes, and then they're suddenly gone?"

"How is it that the world turns a blind eye to thousands of children in Gaza? Is it because of their skin color? Is it because of the different language they speak? Or perhaps not all lives matter."

Arizonans honor Palestinian health care workers

Dr. Fidaa Wishah (l.) and Dr. Uzma Jafri speak during the first White Coat Rally in Phoenix, Arizona, on November 21, 2023.
Dr. Fidaa Wishah (l.) and Dr. Uzma Jafri speak during the first White Coat Rally in Phoenix, Arizona, on November 21, 2023.  © Courtesy of Mass Liberation Arizona

Many Palestinian health workers are putting their lives on the line to continue providing life-saving care. More than 200 have been killed since October, while many more are battling through heartache and horrific conditions to serve patients in need.

"Some of them have had to identify or receive the corpses of their own children, and then return to duty to care for the burned, disabled, mutilated, sick, and wounded civilians in their care," family medicine physician Dr. Uzma Jafri said.

"They are heroes," she went on. "They navigate a treacherous landscape of danger, destruction, and scarcity, trying to keep healing – only to find their work undone by chaos and more violence."

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"Health care workers, the places they work, and the people they treat are internationally, unequivocally, humanely off limits, especially when farcical evidence of their complicity in military operations is disproven time and again."

"The best way to protect our brothers and sisters on the front line is to cease fire now," Dr. Jafri insisted. "That is the only way to guarantee the sanctity of life."

Cover photo: Screenshot/X/@PhxDSA

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