DR DUHA'S - PALESTINE- DURESS : SADNESS MASTER ESSAY

PURSUING a scientific research and career in the Palestinian territories has been fraught for decades. Palestinian scientists persevere in their work despite many obstacles.

Dr. Duha Barghouthi, 25, - a general practitioner in the West Bank, studied medicine for 6 years at AL-Quds University in Jerusalem. She finished her intern year, or postgraduate training, in October of last year, one week before the war broke out.

AL-Makassed, the hospital in Jerusalem where Dr. Barghouthi trained, was only a few minutes walk from her home.

But even before the war, she had to leave hours early to navigate checkpoints and make it to work on time. After Oct. 7, Israeli soldiers raided AL-Makassed, arresting Gazan patients and their relatives.

'' We have no clue what happened to them,'' Dr. Barghouthi said. '' It's very traumatizing.  It's very cruel.''

In a statement on social media, the Israeli police said that it had arrested a handful of residents from Gaza for '' hiding and sleeping '' at AL-Makassed without admission to the hospital.

Last October, Dr. Barghouthi's father, Imad, an astrophysicist at AI-Quds University, for the fourth time was arrested and placed in administrative detention, a practice used to hold Palestinians without formal charges.

After his first arrest in 2015, the Israeli authorities barred him from leaving the West Bank, which Dr. Barghouthi said restricted his opportunities for scientific collaboration.

She remembers the night of the latest arrest clearly. It was 3 a.m.; she was up late studying while the rest of her family slept.  Dr. Barghouthi's father was handcuffed and taken away.

In a statement to The Times, the Israeli military said Imad Barghouthi had been arrested because of suspicions of '' membership and activity in an unlawful association, incitement and engaging in activities that endanger the regional security.''

The astrophysicist has stated that he is neither an affiliate nor a supporter of Hamas.

Six-months after the arrest, her father was released in what Dr. Barghouthi described as '' terrible health conditions,'' including severe weight loss, suspected broken ribs and nerve damage to his fingers.

'' I don't wish this to happen to my enemies,  to happen to anyone,'' she said. 

''My father is a very passionate man, but you can tell from his eyes that something has changed. ''

In August, Dr. Barghouthi married, an event she had postponed last year because of the war and her father's arrest. She is now searching for a new job.

'' Honestly, it's the best thing to be unemployed at this time,'' she said. ''I want to stay close to my family.''

The World Students Society thanks Katrina Miller.