Escalating Violence and Restrictions on Health in Palestine: An On-the-ground Perspective

Dr. Abdulsalam Khayyat is the Vice President for Academic Affairs at An-Najah National University. Dr. Khayyat is an associate Professor of Epidemiology, a Public Health expert in Palestine and the wider MENA region. Dr. Khayyat is a scientific collaborator at the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, University of Basel in Switzerland and Honorary senior researcher in the Population Health Sciences in Bristol Medical School at Bristol University, UK.

Dr. Yara M. Asi is an Assistant Professor at the University of Central Florida in the School of Global Health Management and Informatics. Her research agenda focuses on global health, human rights, and development in fragile populations. She is a Non-resident Fellow at the Arab Center Washington DC, a 2020-2021 Fulbright US Scholar to the West Bank, a 2023-2024 Non-Resident Palestinian Fellow at the Foundation for Middle East Peace, and the co-chair of the Palestine Health Justice Working Group in the American Public Health Association. She previously served as the Fall 2021 US Fellow at Al Shabaka Palestinian Policy Network. Along with working at one of the first accountable care organizations in the United States, she has also worked with Amnesty International USA and the Palestinian American Research Center on policy and outreach issues.

Maryam Mustafa and has been working in the Balata refugee camp as a health program coordinator for the past 2 years. Through her work experience she has gained an insight into the difficulties health workers can face but this has not dampened her enthusiasm. The medical world is full of intellectual, ethical, physical and emotional challenges which health workers face on a daily basis, yet this creates a dynamic profession which is among the most rewarding. Maryam firmly believes that well-being and health play very important roles in the lives of people these days and, as a people person herself, is very enthusiastic about working in a field that allows her to interact with different people and help them with their overall well-being. She has always longed to make a great impact on the lives of Palestinian people, mainly in the refugee camps where they suffer from all types of oppression, depression and injustice.

Ossama Mustafa works at the Yafa Cultural Center as a director of international relations and projects. His duty is to meet with international visitors from around the world, to explain the different issues related to the Palestinian cause, and to write project proposals in order to help the center maintain its various activities. He is also an English and French language teacher. He previously worked with the French Institute in Nablus as a pedagogical and administrative coordinator and with Project Hope as a Head Teacher of the English Program taught in the refugee camps of  Nablus (West Bank-Palestine). One of his duties was to develop an English curriculum suited to addressing the needs of the Palestinian students in the Nablus region. Moreover, he provides support to English and French teachers by mentoring them on suitable teaching methods. In 2007, he obtained a masters degree in European Studies (Economics, Politics, and Law) from Italy.