Cleft and Craniofacial Care in Palestine: Breaking From the Cycle of the Past.

The history of cleft care in the Palestinian territories has largely been sporadic and dependent on foreign practitioners. This article discusses the recent history and the current status of cleft care in Palestine, including the quality of training among Palestinian cleft practitioners and limitations in operating room capacity. The discussion concludes with a future model of cleft care that focuses on carefully crafted programs to train surgeons (this is broadly applicable to other disciplines involved in cleft care), working in partnership with a designated National Cleft Organization, operationalized within a centrally located and accessible Cleft Center.