"Diabetes Voice" & Medecins Sans Frontires exploited to demonize Israel

Philip Home, Editor-in-Chief
Tim Nolan, Editor, and
Ms. Catherine Regniers, Managing Editor,
"Diabetes Voice"
International Diabetes Federation
Rue Emile De Mot 19
B-1000 Brussels
Belgium
Tel +32-2-538 55 11
Fax +32-2-538 51 14
diabetesvoice@idf.org
www.idf.org

Editors,

My colleagues and I were very surprised to see the abstract on your website
( www.diabetesvoice.org/search/?a=278 )
entitled "Poverty, stress and unmet needs: life with diabetes in the Gaza
strip". This short abstract (attached below) consists of a blatantly
political attack that has little or nothing to do with diabetes. The
one-sided and highly distorted version of history that is presented is
based on the Palestinian version of events and vocabulary, and immorally
ignores the brutality of Palestinian terrorism. It is also entirely
inconsistent with the goals proclaimed by Diabetes Voice, the International
Diabetes Federation, and Medecins Sans Frontires (see www.ngo-monitor.org).

We therefore urge you to consider delaying publication of the article in
full until an impartial and professional review board can consider its
merit and the implications of publication on the credibility of this
publication and of the International Diabetes Federation. In other cases,
such as the Journal of Public Health (Royal Institute of Public Health,
UK), the exploitation of medial publications for political propaganda has
resulted in the initiation of a review process.

Prof. Gerald M. Steinberg
Editor, www.ngo-monitor.org and
Director, Program on Conflict Management and Negotiation
Political Studies, Bar Ilan University
Ramat Gan, Israel

cc: Multi-disciplinary International Advisory Group
Patricia Fokumlah, Cameroon
Attila Jzsef, Hungary
Rob James, Canada
Pablo Aschner, Colombia
Viswanathan Mohan, India
Juliana Chan, Hong Kong SAR, PRC
Production Manager: Kristina Hawthorne (Kirchheim), Germany
Publisher: Manuel Ickrath (Kirchheim), Germany

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"Poverty, stress and unmet needs: life with diabetes in the Gaza strip"
"Diabetes Voice" www.diabetesvoice.org/search//search?au=242
Panagiotis Tsapogas
Jun 2004

The year 2003 marked the 55th anniversary of the Nakba (cataclysm) of the
Palestinian people. In 1948, according to the United Nations Conciliation
Commission, 762 000 Palestinians were evicted from their cities and
villages, hundreds of which were razed to the ground. What remains of the
Palestinian people's land is now split between the West Bank of the river
Jordan and Qita Ghazzah (Gaza Strip), and remains occupied by Israeli
military forces and settlers. In 2003, the second uprising, or Al-Aqsa
Intifada against this occupation entered its third year. Panagiotis
Tsapogas, Medical Co-ordinator of the Greek section of Mdecins Sans
Frontires (Doctors Without Borders) in Gaza, 2002-2003, reports on the
difficulties faced by Palestinian people with diabetes in Gaza, and makes a
call for the provision of improved diabetes care in the region.