Palestinian Authority district governor of Ramallah, Laila Ghannam, who holds a doctorate in psychology, used her bully pulpit during the opening of Pink October 2019 to tell Palestinian women that Israel is "the greatest cancer."The event was catered toward Palestinian women survivors of breast cancer or those who are fighting the disease. Palestinian Media Watch provided a translation of Ghannam's speech and noted that she had expressed a similar view in 2018.
In February, The Jerusalem Post reported that roughly 20,000 permits were issued in 2018 by Israel for Palestinian residents of the West Bank to seek medical care in the Jewish state or to accompany others. However, since March that number has dropped, as the PA stopped allowing its residents to obtain medical care in the Jewish state.
Medical coordination between Israel and the Palestinian Authority had been ongoing since 1995. Cancer was among the most frequently treated diseases. Of the 6,000 Palestinian cancer patients from Judea and Samaria, 1,200 were treated in a hospital in Israel – including in east Jerusalem - in 2018.Maayan Jaffe-Hoffman contributed to this report.