Attempts to establish a health plan for the occupied Palestinian territory were made before the 1993 Oslo Accords.
However, the fi rst offi cial national health plan was published in 1994 and aimed to regulate the health sector and
integrate the activities of the four main health-care providers: the Palestinian Ministry of Health, Palestinian
non-governmental organisations, the UN Relief and Works Agency, and a cautiously developing private sector.
However, a decade and a half later, attempts to create an eff ective, effi cient, and equitable system remain unsuccessful.
This failure results from arrangements for health care established by the Israeli military government between 1967
and 1994, the nature of the Palestinian National Authority, which has little authority in practice and has been burdened
by ineffi ciency, cronyism, corruption, and the inappropriate priorities repeatedly set to satisfy the preferences of
foreign aid donors. Although similar problems exist elsewhere, in the occupied Palestinian territory they are
exacerbated and perpetuated under conditions of military occupation. Developmental approaches integrated with
responses to emergencies should be advanced to create a more eff ective, effi cient, and equitable health system, but
this process would be diffi cult under military occupation.