On February the 19that a lecture in Columbia University, Nadera Shaloub- Kevorkian revealed that Israeli occupation issue permits to large pharmaceutical companies to carry out tests on Palestinians and Arab prisoners.
A professor at a Hebrew University, and a scholar with a PhD in criminology and a specialist in human rights, Shalouk-Kevorkian’s statement caused ripples of protest from both sides, one claiming that she is feeding a blood libel and creating propaganda for the Palestinian plight, while the other decreed outrage of the inhumanity towards the prisoners, and ultimately to the citizens of Gaza who are, in essence, residing in the biggest open air prison.
The living conditions of the Palestinians, and in specific those in the Gaza strip– who have ignited and participated in the “Great March of Return” on the 70thanniversary of the Nakba—have been suffering under the exacerbating conditions of a blockade. With a decrease in freedom of movement, job opportunities, lack of proper number of schools and a growing population density with lack of health services due to tightened border restriction; Gaza is the definition of a besieged land under the hands of the occupation.
Some, to name of a few of the many events that occurred in the “Great March of Return” seed into the idea that Israel uses the Palestinian as a testing ground to exemplify its arms sales to the international world. The usage of new drones as tear gas techniques and the appearance of butterfly bullets, which expand upon contact with human body and destroys internal organs[, are just a few of the newly tested weaponry.
Shalouk-Kevorkian also quotes a child, Mohammad, “they check which bombs to use, gas bombs or stink bombs, whether to put on our heads in plastic bags or cloths bags, whether to hit us with their rifles or kick us with the boots.”[
In an article for Middle East Eyes (MME), Shir Hever, an economist with Alternative Information Center, states that: “Trade fairs for military technology and for homeland security equipment are commonplace in Israel, especially after each round of bombardment and/or invasion of Gaza. The advertising line repeated by the companies in these trading fairs to promote their wares is that ‘the IDF already uses that technology.’”[
A modern containment system, an oppressive regime subjecting the Palestinians to drug testing, new military appliances along with drastic living conditions, leaves the dreadful question of if such acts will again flutter and fall so indifferently from the eyes of the international community, or if any humanistic approach will finally revolt against such blatant human rights violations.
