Page 189 - ירושלים: גיליון רפואי

Drying Out the Jerusalem Swamps

On Religion, Politics and Public Health

In 1891, decades after there were Christian and Jewish hospitals operating in Jerusalem,
the Ottoman authorities followed suit and opened a municipal hospital, the only
government hospital in the city. During the years 1912 and 1913, two delegations
of medical investigators worked in Jerusalem; the investigators assisted the local
governmental authorities in overcoming what had become unending and fatal malarial
outbreaks. The first group was led by the German scientist, Professor Peter Muhlens,
who studied malaria among the Christian and Muslim population, and the second group,
headed by Dr W. Brunn and Dr L. Goldberg, worked amongst the Jewish population under
the auspices of the Nathan Straus Health Center. The scientists declared upon their arrival
in Jerusalem that their work was in no way related to any governmental, national, or
religious faction, but that “the tests and battle against malaria should be in the common
interest of all nationalities and faiths.” In their published report, they concluded that
religious segregation and the lack of coordination and supervision by the authorities
had turned Jerusalem into “an unhealthy place […] people created swamps of their
own making with waste and built awful cisterns.” The investigators suggested that the
inhabitants of the Holy City come to their senses and begin to cooperate in improving city
facilities in the interest of ensuring their own health.

187 ■ ‫לייבש את ביצות ירושלים‬