Respect for the dead
"In East Jerusalem there is a neighborhood that no ambulance is allowed to enter; its sick and its dead have to undergo a cruel via dolorosa on the way to the hospital or the cemetery."
w w w . h a a r e t z . c o m
Last update - 05:40 25/07/2008
Twilight Zone
By Gideon Levy
A sickbed, a respirator, an oxygen tank, a walker and a wheelchair rested this week on the road next to the checkpoint of the Sheikh Saad neighborhood in East Jerusalem. The equipment sat there for a long time, until the Border Police allowed it to cross. All this medical equipment was borrowed from Yad Sarah [a voluntary organization that provides medical equipment free or at low cost]. Now, after the patient, Omar Alan, had died in great torment, his son Raad wanted to return it.
It is not easy to return a respirator and a bed to its owner. For about half an hour the newly orphaned son conducted negotiations with the Border Policemen at the checkpoint, so they would allow the equipment to be taken to the Yad Sarah branch in West Jerusalem. This time he succeeded, but the day before, the police had chased him away from the checkpoint in disgrace. "Don't argue, and get out of here."
Something similar happened to the corpse of Omar, a resident of Israel with a blue ID card, who died last week and whose family asked for permission to bury him. The family and Israeli peace activists made dozens of phone calls to the Civil Administration and made a prolonged plea to the police manning the checkpoint. Only after 12 hours, during which the dead man lay in his parents' home with fans cooling his body, did they manage to take him through the checkpoint.
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w w w . h a a r e t z . c o m
Last update - 05:40 25/07/2008
Twilight Zone
By Gideon Levy
A sickbed, a respirator, an oxygen tank, a walker and a wheelchair rested this week on the road next to the checkpoint of the Sheikh Saad neighborhood in East Jerusalem. The equipment sat there for a long time, until the Border Police allowed it to cross. All this medical equipment was borrowed from Yad Sarah [a voluntary organization that provides medical equipment free or at low cost]. Now, after the patient, Omar Alan, had died in great torment, his son Raad wanted to return it.
It is not easy to return a respirator and a bed to its owner. For about half an hour the newly orphaned son conducted negotiations with the Border Policemen at the checkpoint, so they would allow the equipment to be taken to the Yad Sarah branch in West Jerusalem. This time he succeeded, but the day before, the police had chased him away from the checkpoint in disgrace. "Don't argue, and get out of here."
Something similar happened to the corpse of Omar, a resident of Israel with a blue ID card, who died last week and whose family asked for permission to bury him. The family and Israeli peace activists made dozens of phone calls to the Civil Administration and made a prolonged plea to the police manning the checkpoint. Only after 12 hours, during which the dead man lay in his parents' home with fans cooling his body, did they manage to take him through the checkpoint.
--MORE--