Official PA Daily Acknowledges Israeli Hospital's Medical Care For Palestinian Children and Training of Doctors
by Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik
The official PA daily reported on a visit by the PA Minister of Health, Hani Abdeen, to Israel's Hadassah Hospital in
Jerusalem. The daily noted that 30% of the child patients in Hadassah are Palestinians and that the Israeli hospital is
training "60 Palestinian medical interns and specialist physicians who will be returning to the [Palestinian] Authority
areas to carry out their work." The hospital has a special program to train Palestinian doctors to treat cancer among
children, reported the PA daily.
The following is the report:
"[PA] Minister of Health, Hani Abdeen visited the [Israeli] Hadassah Hospital yesterday [May 5, 2013]. This is the first
visit by a Palestinian minister to one of the most important Israeli hospitals, according to the hospital's
announcement.
Minister Abdeen who was accompanied by a delegation that included senior officials of the ministry and of the PA, met
with the Director of Ein Karem Hadassah Hospital, Yuval Weiss. He [the minister] visited Palestinian patients being
treated in the hospital, and he distributed gifts. [Hospital director] Weiss said: 'We relate to patients without regard
to nationality and religion. We treat Muslims, Christians, Jews, and other nationalities without bias, and 30% of the
patients who are children are Palestinians.'
He went on to say: 'We've begun cooperating with the Palestinians. We now train teams of physicians from the hospital in
Beit Jala in the southern West Bank, to treat cancer among children. We have about 60 Palestinian medical interns and
specialist physicians who will be returning to the [Palestinian] Authority areas to carry out their work.'"
[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, May 6, 2013]
This article documenting Israel's medical care for Palestinian children is a change from common PA accusations that
Israel intentionally tries to hurt Palestinians, for example by spreading drugs intentionally among Palestinian youth.
ENDS