Sanctuaries of Health: The Postwar Construction of Hospital Care in Gaza, 1948-1954

Explain your research in 1-5 sentences

My research project focuses on the Church Missionary Society (CMS) Hospital of Gaza City as a case study for exploring the re-construction of the Gazan medical infrastructure following the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. The postwar refugee crisis more than quadrupled the population of Gaza, which required the coordination of local actors, regional powers, and international aid organizations to meet unprecedented levels of need. These actors identified the CMS Hospital as the most equipped and expedient institution for stabilizing medical care, although its colonial legacy and evangelical mission posed a challenge for maintaining political neutrality.

How did you come to this work?

My interest in this project first developed during my graduate studies at the University of Texas at Austin. I found digital records related to the CMS Hospital and soon discovered the rich history of the institution that spanned more than a century (1878 – present). I incorporated the hospital into my MA thesis and have continued to develop my thinking on the institution as the subject of my PhD dissertation.

What resonated with you as you conducted your research? What were you most excited or surprised to find out?

For this specific research project, the complexities of political neutrality resonated with me. I spent time reading records from the Cadbury Research Library in Birmingham and the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) archive in Philadelphia. In both collections, I was struck by how historical actors recognized the impossibility of neutrality in providing aid. In 1948, the United Nations asked the AFSC to coordinate relief efforts in Gaza. The AFSC recognized that accepting the request meant straining their personnel, compromising their political stance, and subjecting their organization to public censure. But they also knew refusing the call was a grave decision for the people of Gaza. The AFSC commenced relief efforts in 1949 and quickly confronted the dilemmas of relief work. They cautiously partnered with evangelical institutions like the CMS hospital; they occasionally relied on the coercive power of the Egyptian military to adjudicate disputes; and they once fabricated an entire village to acquire additional rations for those displaced by the war but not granted refugee status. For the AFSC, making moral decisions meant selectively abandoning neutrality for a posture some members described as “sweet reasonableness.”

How does this fit into your larger project?

I will incorporate this research into the fourth chapter of my dissertation, which explores the long-term history of the CMS Hospital in Gaza (1878-1967). The history of the CMS Hospital demonstrates how the present status of the Gaza Strip was not the result of an isolated event, the 1948 War or the targeted campaign of October 7th, but rather the product of contested, and often violent, negotiations between international, regional, and local interests.