Posted on Dec 7, 2023
A Palestinian doctor pushes for peace, but suffers a devastating blow from war
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https://www.npr.org/2023/12/05/ [login to see] /palestinian-doctor-gaza-israel-hamas-war
Dr. Izzeldin Abuelaish initially gained prominence in the 1990s as the first Palestinian doctor appointed to work in an Israeli hospital, paving the way for many others that followed.
"If you go to any hospital, you will see Palestinian doctors, Israeli doctors, nurses, patients. All of them are equal inside the hospital," he said.
I first met Abuelaish in 2001 in southern Israel, in the the desert town of Beersheba, where he straddled two worlds. During the week, he worked and lived at Soroka Hospital, where he specialized in fertility medicine.
On weekends, he drove a short distance home to the Gaza Strip to be with his wife and eight children in the Jabalia refugee camp.
Dr. Izzeldin Abuelaish initially gained prominence in the 1990s as the first Palestinian doctor appointed to work in an Israeli hospital, paving the way for many others that followed.
"If you go to any hospital, you will see Palestinian doctors, Israeli doctors, nurses, patients. All of them are equal inside the hospital," he said.
I first met Abuelaish in 2001 in southern Israel, in the the desert town of Beersheba, where he straddled two worlds. During the week, he worked and lived at Soroka Hospital, where he specialized in fertility medicine.
On weekends, he drove a short distance home to the Gaza Strip to be with his wife and eight children in the Jabalia refugee camp.
A Palestinian doctor pushes for peace, but suffers a devastating blow from war
Posted from npr.org
Palestine
Israel
Peace
Posted 6 mo ago
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
..."Tragedy strikes
Yet none of his efforts spared him or his family from terrible tragedies in the Israeli-Palestinian fighting.
He was pushing for peace in the 1990s as the Israelis and Palestinians tried — but ultimately failed — to reach a deal ending generations of conflict. In the heavy fighting that followed in the early 2000s, an Israeli clampdown on Gaza eventually made it too difficult for Abuelaish to enter Israel to work.
Then came a terrible loss in 2008 when his wife died of leukemia.
The following year, he suffered another devastating blow that played out live on Israeli television. During an intense bout of Israel-Hamas fighting in 2009, Israel's Channel 10 television station called him regularly for an update from Gaza, which he delivered in his fluent Hebrew.
One evening he was about to go on air when an Israeli tank shell slammed into his home. Three of his daughters, ages 14, 15 and 21, were killed, as was one of his nieces.
The doctor wailed in grief as he spoke to the Israeli television anchor.
"My God, My God, what have we done?" he cried. "I wanted to try to save them, but they died of head wounds immediately."
Abuelaish spoke to NPR later that year.
"I lost three precious, beautiful daughters, but I can't return them back," he said. "I have five more [children], and I have the future. I have many good things that I can do for others."
He wrote a book entitled, I Shall Not Hate: A Gaza Doctor's Journey on the Road to Peace and Human Dignity.
He left Gaza with his surviving children. Today he's a professor in the School of Public Health at the University of Toronto, where I reached him for this interview."...
..."Tragedy strikes
Yet none of his efforts spared him or his family from terrible tragedies in the Israeli-Palestinian fighting.
He was pushing for peace in the 1990s as the Israelis and Palestinians tried — but ultimately failed — to reach a deal ending generations of conflict. In the heavy fighting that followed in the early 2000s, an Israeli clampdown on Gaza eventually made it too difficult for Abuelaish to enter Israel to work.
Then came a terrible loss in 2008 when his wife died of leukemia.
The following year, he suffered another devastating blow that played out live on Israeli television. During an intense bout of Israel-Hamas fighting in 2009, Israel's Channel 10 television station called him regularly for an update from Gaza, which he delivered in his fluent Hebrew.
One evening he was about to go on air when an Israeli tank shell slammed into his home. Three of his daughters, ages 14, 15 and 21, were killed, as was one of his nieces.
The doctor wailed in grief as he spoke to the Israeli television anchor.
"My God, My God, what have we done?" he cried. "I wanted to try to save them, but they died of head wounds immediately."
Abuelaish spoke to NPR later that year.
"I lost three precious, beautiful daughters, but I can't return them back," he said. "I have five more [children], and I have the future. I have many good things that I can do for others."
He wrote a book entitled, I Shall Not Hate: A Gaza Doctor's Journey on the Road to Peace and Human Dignity.
He left Gaza with his surviving children. Today he's a professor in the School of Public Health at the University of Toronto, where I reached him for this interview."...
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