Two small boys lay sedated in a hospital ward in this Tel Aviv suburb … unaware of each other or of the growing commotion around them. One was Osher Twito, 8, an Israeli boy from the town of Sderot, who was seriously wounded … by shrapnel from a rocket fired by Palestinian militants from Gaza. The other was Yakoub Natil, almost 7, a Palestinian who was brought … from Gaza City after he was badly hurt by shrapnel from an Israeli Air Force strike. …
Many major hospitals in Israel regularly treat Palestinians and are no strangers to such mixed feelings or incongruous scenes. Here at Sheba, the anomalies are cast in sharper relief. “It’s like a theater of the absurd,” said Prof. Zeev Rotstein, the chief executive officer and director of the hospital. “You have army doctors in white gowns alongside Palestinian doctors who are being trained, at the same time treating Israeli casualties of terrorist attacks and Palestinians who may have been hurt in army actions.” …
Since Hamas took control of Gaza last June after a brief but bloody factional war, the issue of Gaza residents’ access to medical treatment in Israel has become increasingly charged … According to recent statistics from the Israeli Coordination and Liaison Administration, more than 7,000 permits were issued for Palestinian patients from Gaza in 2007, along with nearly 8,000 permits for their escorts, representing a 50 percent increase over 2006. Shadi Yassin, a spokesman for the Coordination and Liaison Administration, said … that medical patients were still leaving Gaza every day to receive treatment in Israel.
But Yakoub is the exception, not the rule. “We know of others who can’t get out and die there,” said Professor Rotstein of Sheba’s pediatric intensive care department. “It is so complicated now.” Access the full article>>