Ramallah: The Palestinian Health Ministry announced on Monday that it estimates that more than 50,000 drug addicts live in the West Bank and the occupied East Jerusalem.
The ministry accuses Israel of facilitating the entry of drugs into the Palestinian Territories.
Hani Abdeen, Palestinian health minister, said that the statistics show that the Palestinian Territories has an urgent need to raise public awareness on the dangers of drugs in society.
Abdeen said in an official statement that the Palestinian Health Ministry is ready to coordinate with all the concerned departments and institutions eliminate the drug menace.
Dr Omar Al Nasser, who heads the Public Relations Department at the ministry, told Gulf News that a Palestinian drug rehabilitation centre will soon be set up in Ramallah to rehabilitate addicts.
He said that budget allocations for the purpose have already been made and the necessary plot of land arranged by the Palestinian National Authority (PNA).
He added that a Palestinian team will travel to a professional centre in Abu Dhabi to attend training courses on the most advanced drug rehabilitation methods. He stressed that the issue had already been coordinated with the UAE authorities.
According to Dr Al Nasser, the drug flow into the Palestinian Territories is directly linked to the occupation forces in the West Bank and the occupied East Jerusalem, adding that last year’s statistics show that while 40,000 Palestinians were addicted to drugs, the number had jumped by 10,000 in a few months, highlighting the need to immediately address the menace.
He said that Israeli forces use drugs to recruit collaborators and make them rich because they can easily bring the drugs into the territories.
A senior officer at the Palestinian Security Apparatus told Gulf News that police and anti-narcotics forces have not been able to effectively fight and eradicate the drug menace. A new anti-drug department has already been set up at the Palestinian Preventive Security force.
The preventive security force has created a database, with the help of concerned authorities who have been instructed to provide all necessary assistance required to halt the spread of drugs in Palestine.
