Next week, the Exodus Foundation, promoter of the Rototom Social Forum, will pay heartfelt tribute to the Palestinian doctors who have carried out their professional work in the Valencian Community and, especially, in the province of Castellón. The event, entitled ‘Our Palestinian doctors: conscience and dignity’, will be held on Thursday, November 6, at 7:00 p.m., in theassembly hall of the Quatre Cantons building of the Caja Castellón Foundation (entrance on Enmedio Street, 82 – Castellón). Admission is free.
The meeting is part of the cycle ‘Dialogues without borders’, an initiative of the Exodus Foundation aimed at promoting intercultural dialogue, social commitment and reflection on human rights and human dignity.
The tribute will bring together three prominent Palestinian professionals who have developed their medical careers in Spain. These are Ahmad Khalaf Ayash, a pioneering physician in the early research of lung cancer; Shaban Kilani, a physician specializing in Urology; as well as Saber Ashi, a physician specializing in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation.
The event will be moderated by journalist and former director of RNE Castellón Ángeles Alcantud and will be attended by representatives of the Exodus Foundation, local institutions and the Valencian health sector.
According to the Exodus Foundation, the tribute “aims to recognize the career of a generation of Palestinian professionals who, after arriving in Valencia to study Medicine decades ago, decided to establish their lives and their commitment to public health here”. “Many of them developed their careers in hospitals and health centers of the Valencian Community, where they have trained new generations of doctors and have contributed to the well-being of Valencian society and, therefore, and especially in a historical moment as convulsive as the current one, we want to pay tribute to these human and professional biographies that represent a bridge between cultures, a round trip between Palestine and our land, in addition to a history of dignity and service to others”, indicated from the Exodus Foundation.
The three guest doctors will share their personal and professional experiences, as well as their vision on the role of humanism in medical practice. Their testimonies, marked by the experience of exile, solidarity and social commitment, will offer a profoundly human look at the current context of crisis and pain experienced by their people.
“It is about giving voice to those who, from their medical practice, have defended the right to health, empathy and respect for life, even when violence and suffering have closely affected their families in the Gaza Strip, since these doctors have educated, cared for and saved us, they are part of our health history and our collective memory”, stressed from the Exodus Foundation, which stressed that “behind each of them there is a story of effort, empathy and dignity that deserves to be told and heard”.
Continuity of the cycle ‘Dialogues without borders’
With this tribute, the Exodus Foundation continues its commitment to deseasonalize and diversify its cultural and social proposal beyond the framework of the Rototom Sunsplash festival, which is held in August in Benicàssim.
In recent months, the sessions of the ‘Dialogues without borders’ cycle have taken place in spaces as diverse as the Cervantes Institute in Madrid, where Judge Baltasar Garzón starred in a meeting on universal justice; the Villarreal CF field; or open social and academic settings in various enclaves of Alicante, Valencia and Castellón, always with the aim of building bridges between communities and promoting global dialogue.
