An accurate transcript of talk is posted below.
Dr Swee has practiced as an orthopaedic surgeon for many decades and was the first female consultant appointed to the St Bartholomew and the Royal London Hospitals. She worked as a trauma and orthopaedics consultant in the Gaza hospital in Lebanon at the time of the Israeli massacre of refugees in the camps of Sabra and Shatila, and documented her experiences in her book: ‘From Beirut to Jerusalem’. She was awarded the ‘Star of Palestine’ by Yasser Arafat in recognition of her humanitarian work. She co-founded Medical Aid for Palestinians in 1982. MAP has been one of the few international organisations operating in northern Gaza throughout the genocide, with local teams providing critical medical and humanitarian assistance and supplies, as well as reporting on attacks by Israel on health workers and carrying out advocacy for a permanent ceasefire.
Dr Swee: Thank you, thank you.
Right, I’m very privileged to be here. I don’t know how many of you have seen my slideshow but this is a sample of it.
I’ve met you all so often at rallies and demonstrations but so I thought since they have given me 20 minutes we will do this, ok.
That’s Bart’s hospital. 900 years of history. Took them 900 years to employ a female orthopedic consultant. That says a lot about equality between the sexes.
So this is what I do. Before every talk I put this up [slide says: We cannot be happy in isolation. We suffer and prosper collectively. We can only be free if others are free.] And I think this is in alignment with your mission statement.
So, a lot of us are brought together because of what happened on the 7th October. Of course, I’m going to share with you not 77 years of the dispossession and ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people that thousands are suffering, but at least my personal experience of 42 years. But as you watch this the scale has really kind of. . . gone exponential.
Right, you see Palestinians, 61,000 killed, many of them women and children. And look at the last line, 35,000 children are orphans: either with one parent dead or both. And also the medical personnel killed – more than 1000. PRCS workers killed, UNRWA workers killed, journalists killed, and hospitals even destroyed. So there’s absolutely no accountability, impunity of the highest order.
And this, on every slide of mine which I’m going to leave with you, has a date on it. So I track the events as it progresses. Those three slides – this is July last year. 17,000 children no surviving family. Different from orphans. These have got no aunties, no uncles, no grandfathers, no grandmothers. Usually the entire lot is destroyed and the child is the only one who survived. Missing according to The Lancet, buried under the rubble. So The Lancet actually published in July thinking that probably 186,000 will be dead as a result of this. And that was in July last year. Now as we are approaching July, it’s even more. So these are properties destroyed.
West Bank is now subjected to a merciless ethnic cleansing. And since we hear not so much about West Bank, but remember West Bank is also suffering. And what’s happened to Gaza will happen to them on that scale very soon.
The ceasefire. The ceasefire is something which I want to address. On the 19th January, President Trump announced the ceasefire. So, some of us did not know what to expect. But the Palestinians knew what to expect. All those Palestinians that were forced to evacuate or forced out of their homes so their homes can be destroyed – to live in the safe zones of South Gaza did one thing. And that’s that. [Image of crowds of pedestrians.] Going back to the north. Going back to where they were dispossessed. So that was the answer to ethnic cleansing.
Half a million Palestinians ethnically cleansed from North Gaza. Forced to live in tents in the south. The moment the ceasefire was announced, just took whatever belongings they had and started to walk on foot next to the sea: back to North Gaza. And I love this light so much because I studied their faces whenever I wanted to talk to any audience, wondering what was on their mind as they walked a long journey on foot back home, only to find this was their home. But nevertheless, they stayed there. They stayed there to live in those rubble and ruin. They stayed there until the ceasefire broke down.
Just some pictures to show you what Gaza is like. Khan Younis the second largest city in Gaza. It was invaded four times. So each time when the Israeli army withdrew, the people went home to this kind of home. They walked back from the tents next to the sea to find homes like that. And to identify the bodies of their loved ones. So, what happened when the ceasefire broke down? From 18th March onwards one and a half thousand residents were killed, injured, displaced, starved. Now, total blockade, famine and death. And yet, we know there are 3008 trucks blockaded from entering Gaza. Israel is correct and says there’s is plenty of aid. But when you complete the sentence these aid trucks were not allowed to enter Gaza. And among them were the trucks for Medical Aid for Palestinians as well.
So, International Court of Justice: I have no time to explain what it is and what’s the difference between a real genocide completion and a plausible genocide which is the ruling for the time being. So, the interim ruling, which was January 2024 was six [stipulations]. They’re very simple. They’re talking about prevent more genocide acts, lifting of the blockade, allowing food in, prevention of destruction of evidence and reporting back to the court. What was reported back? A day later, they announced the defunding of UNWRA.
For some of you that might not know the Palestinians that well, UNWRA was set up by the Security Council in 1949 when the world at the time realised that the Palestinians are living in a horrible condition. At that time 850 million Palestinians evicted from historic Palestine living in refugee tents with no hope of returning. They were dying, they were hungry. So this was set up by UNWRA. Now there are 6 million Palestinian refugees living worldwide. UNWRA kept the refugees alive, vaccinate them, clean the streets, do the schools, have the clinics, look after the pregnant women. And you just go out to any prestigious Palestinian and ask them what UNWRA has done for them. And many of them will tell “they vaccinated me, they gave vaccines to my family, without them I wouldn’t have gone to school”. So to defund UNWRA is actually a collective punishment of the entire Palestinian refugee population.
So a little bit about Lebanon. Last year I was in Lebanon. Every year I go on September to commemorate the anniversary of the horrible massacre. And later, I’ll tell you more about it. So this year, last year, 17th September, I was coming off the plane when 4000 (over) civil servants, defense, ambulance drivers, paramedics had their pager explode. And this is called a pager attack. It will do the sales of the technology very well. Because, on the internet it was already advertised how to send exploding pagers to people who are pro-Palestinian.
So this is one of my patients. After working for three hours, you have got thumb, which is saved and the middle and ring finger. That evening, I went to talk to him, as I always do after a long day of operating, and he told me this. “Doctor, don’t be sad. To support Gaza carries a price. I’m not sad. It’s painful, but this is the price I pay for supporting Palestine.” So Lebanon is still. . . you know, there was a ceasefire. They started to bomb in December, the ceasefire is recently broken. So the South Lebanon is looking like Gaza now.
So I hope you have seen this map. It just shows how Palestine has actually been disappearing. And in fact, Palestine has disappeared in 1948. So this map only shows Palestinians living in their original land, not their homes. But the people, 50% of the Palestinians were not driven out: put into more and more crowded conditions. And now, the entire Palestinians population in occupied Palestine lives in 12% of historic Palestine.
A little bit about myself. I grew up as a Zionist Christian. My church supported Israel so I supported Israel. I grew up in Singapore and Singapore was called Israel of the East and therefore it supports Israel. 1982 was the year. For many of you 7th October is the date. For me 1982 is the year. I watched on the television Israeli planes destroying the country for Lebanon. Bombing and killing many people, destroying homes, survivors, until I couldn’t bear anymore. And I decided to quit my job on the NHS and left with Christian aid to Lebanon.
This was an 11th floor building, sucked in, bearing 200 people in it. Now it’s carried out on a grand scale in Gaza. Buried under the rubble means this. The PLO, which was actually a refugee organization, out of Lebanon, out of refugee camps, agreed to evacuate, so that the war was stopped. So this was the first day of the evacuation: posters wishing the departing team go well.
I was seconded to work with the Palestine Red Crescent Society. For a Zionist Christian, this is quite a transition: Palestine Red Crescent Society. They took me into a hospital called Gaza Hospital. At that time I have no idea what’s Gaza. Now, my life is all wrapped up with Gaza. This hospital was twelve floors with the top two floors blown off, shelled. But the lower floors were safe. I was asked if I would start a orthopedic centre in this hospital. And of course the answer was yes.
It overlooked this. This was Sabra Shatila, 1982.
And the first day after the ceasefire, I can see people coming back to rebuild with rubble. And I made friends with them. And that was the first time I learned the story of the Palestinian people. Not from books, not from newspaper, not from the BBC, not from my years of education. By that time I think I was very well educated: I’d got a masters, I’d got so many other things, an MD and so on, fellow of multiple colleges. I never knew Palestinians. I never knew they existed. Now, I’m looking at Palestine leaders working with me. The beautiful Palestinian embroidery, which the women would show me. Each bearing the insignia of the villages they come from. 513 Palestinian villages were destroyed to make room to plant trees for Israel. Beautiful Palestinian dresses. It went on for three weeks. While we were working, I was learning the strength of Palestine.
The ceasefire was broken. Ceasefire was not peace. Ceasefire could lead to peace, but it could be broken. But the Palestinians didn’t know that. Several hundred, almost a thousand Israeli tanks drove into Beirut city, surrounded it in a contingent sealed our refugee camp. And the BBC provided cover for this military action by announcing every hour that the PLO did not evacuate, left behind two thousand terrorists and unfortunately Israel has re-invaded Lebanon to clean up the PLO. And the shelling came closer and closer and soon our hospital was inundated with dead bodies of not PLO terrorists, but people whom I knew and had just made friends with.
This is racism. Lying on the back was a brown man. Standing, looking after him is a blond blue eyed Swedish nurse. That brown man was also a nurse. They shot him and she looked after him. They profile: if they are brown, if their eyes are not blue, your chances of dying are very much higher. On the same night, many of my patients also died. Among them, a mother and a baby who was also told to go into a house and stay away. And when they were all gathered in the house, a grenade was thrown in and everybody died except the mother and child. I came to see her and found that she needed blood very badly, but so did her baby. And the mother refused to have the blood, we gave it to the child. And she said, “God will help my child”, and she died.
This was the last patient I treated before they took the whole international team out. I’ll talk more about him later. He laid dead and the 27 members of his family were gunned down.
So, I left the hostel together with a Christian Aid team under machine gun escort. We were very worried, especially me, I was really angry. Because I knew that the moment I leave – I’m being educated – I know they will go in and murder all our patients. But our Swedish nurse refused to leave. She said I’ll stay, to look after the critically ill and the medical students stood by her and two of them stayed. And because of them, our whole intensive care patients was saved because the Swedish embassy came with the red cross and evacuated everybody.
I came back to the refugee camp and seen for myself the destruction. The newly refurbished houses were again dynamited. The walls were just freshly painted, but the people were no more. At the end of the refugee camp there was one of several mass graves. This was one of them. You will know it’s a mass grave because the picture was take 40 (over) years ago because all the surrounding houses were destroyed or partially destroyed. The clearing itself held more than a thousand bodies. Fresh earth was taken and put over the bodies. More bulldozers came and flattened the whole place. White lime was sprinkled over and the bodies dissolved.
When I say I visit Lebanon every year, it’s to come to this particular mass grave, to pay my respects and to tell the survivor’s family that we have not forgotten. There were orphans everywhere standing before the walls where their parents were murdered. Orphans with nowhere to go to face a Lebanese winter.
And this child whose life is saved: I went to meet his grandmother, who has walked 20 kilometres from South Lebanon when she heard about the massacre to see her family. The good news that the grandson has survived was overwhelmed by the fact she’s lost 27 members of her family. So she said our carnations can break, and as sparrows sing their usual songs, yet my children are no-where to be found. Beirut, you took all I had, you took my last hope in life. Abu Zumha, my firstborn son, was cruelly cut off his soul. May whoever murdered you feel my pain. Mother, saved my children, come visit our grave.
I go to your graves and embrace the stones. I tell the graves, please look after my loved ones. But my calls remain unanswered. How I feel for those of you that were present when my loved ones died. Did you let them die thirsty? Or were you merciful enough to give them a drink? My calls remain unanswered. Mountains of the sins are between us now. In life, what life is left for us? Our hearts have died and our tears have dried for all the men and women that have died. God almighty, give us patience. And my children, may my love always be led into your path, and may God show you the holy way.
At this point, I must tell you that around three and a half thousand people were murdered in a refugee camp. Size of camp: one hundred thousand, in three days. I came out my house devastated until I met these children. The children surrounded me, some of them my patients. And they asked me to take a picture of them. And as I focus, they lift their hands in victory sign and say, “we are not afraid. Let Israel come.” Now looking back, behind them were broken buildings. In front of them were laid out mutilated decaying bodies for identification. The air was filled with a stench of decaying human bodies. So there’s death, destruction and decay. But yet, in the midst of all that were the Palestinian children. So that’s why I’m talking to you today - despite enormous pressure against me - to speak up. My hospital was closed, so I started speaking out, because Palestinians wanted their story told. They are not statistics. We might support them, but they want to be recognized as human beings first.
So then I was beginning to speak in Israel at the Kahan Commission, visiting the Holocaust museum.
So we do not forget, right? We do not forget. So, peace. There’s no peace. MAP was started, just as UNWRA was started at a modest scale, to help the survivors of Sabra Shatila. We sent many, many volunteers. Mama Rita is the oldest, 80 years old when she started with us. God bless her, she was laid to rest, 90 years old.
Shatila collect, but as Shatila collect, we heard news of the first Palestinian intifada, the first uprising where more than a thousand were killed. And then we went to Gaza. And we started a mission in Gaza. Ahli hospital was a crucial hospital built by previous generations. It has been flattened. It has been bombed twice. The first on 17th October killed 500 people. But like all Palestinians, whether they are Christian or Muslim, they are resilient. They refurbished the hospital and started to function. Then on Palm Sunday it was completely flooded. Then came the march of return where people were shot, lost their legs. But this is Gaza.
I want to show you the last few slides then I will stop. Gaza is – no, Gaza was - very beautiful. This was the sea of Gaza. Sunset of Gaza. Springtime in Gaza. The orchard in Gaza. Palm trees in Gaza. The gardens in Gaza. Gaza.
This continued, this little farm survived until the 25th of December 2023 when Israel came in, killed the farmer, took the other one to prison, tortured him for 40 days, went in and used the farm as a command and control centre. Instead of saying thank you, when they left, they blew up every single building. Killed all the animals, bulldozed all the trees. I will stop here to leave you with a few words. It is not over. Because when you talk about resistance and resilience, the Palestinians got lots of it. I will tell you what happened to the farmer. After 40 days of torture he was released. And when there was talk of a ceasefire, he ordered a bulldozer, rented a tent to live in his own farm, ordered a 1200 olive sapling he’s going to plant. His children said, “why you’re 76 years old, you will never see the fruits of your olive tree.” He said, “no, I’m not planting it for me, I’m planting it for you. I’m planting it for Palestine.”
The human spirit cannot be destroyed. Like my patient who despite being crippled with no hands and one eye blown out said he offered it for humanity. Like my little patients standing there, doctor, we might die tomorrow, but you will have our picture. Show it to everyone in the whole world. So they are my teachers, they are my mentor, and I’m so proud to be able to share this with you.
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