Family affair / The Abd al-Rahmans By Avner Avrahami and Reli Avrahami Abu Ghosh The cast: Murad (32), Hanali (28), Natali (3). The home: Stone, two floors, ground floor, 200 square meters in the family compound. The parents live upstairs, the aunts and uncles all around. From the balcony (with the clinging vine) the cars whizzing by on the Jerusalem-Tel Aviv highway are visible. The house was built by the family in 1972; the family has been living there since the wedding (in 2003). Advertisement The family: The Abd al-Rahman family is Muslim, one of the four biggest families in Abu Ghosh ("about 1,600 in all"). They are probably Circassian ("hence the blue eyes") and Bedouin in origin. Murad: "You can say my father is head of the family." His father, Mahmoud Abdel Rahman, 64, is also deputy head of the local council. Entering: The dusky living room is accessed by descending two dark marble stairs. The shadowy space contains heavy furniture, including greenish brown sofas, a bureau with ironwork, a large dining table adorned with a white lace tablecloth and a piano ("from Goren Pianos, in Jerusalem"), above which is a reproduction of a woman lying on a sheet surrounded by angels. One wall is wallpapered in brown (and has a picture containing the hundred names of Allah), the facing wall is stone, and in the middle, on a coffee table, are coffee (with cardamom) and rugelach. We proceed to the tour. The tour: Abutting the living room is a junction from which one can turn either to the parents' room (containing a canopied bed and a baby's bed), or to the room which has been readied for Natali "and will be hers the moment she decides." Her readied room: A bed with bears (Murad: "It was mine"), a fresco of a girl angel (by Hanali) and an electric train that moves along a track at approximately ceiling height ("Yehiel from Mini Israel built it for us") with a yellow engine and a freight car. We move to the kitchen (brown cupboards, beige tile) and into Natali's other play space, from which one can reach either the "dressing room" or the backyard, via the white rabbit in a cage. On the way back to the living room we pass a Christmas tree that everyone loves ("because of the presents"). Livelihoods and occupations: Murad is a dentist. He studied in St. Petersburg in Russia, and has a clinic in the village, a seven-minute walk ("slow") from the house. He works a six-day week, taking off Friday ("but if people call, I come"). He drives a 2007 Suzuki Jiminy 4x4 ("small but good"), which he shares with Hanali. The clients: In addition to Abu Ghosh, he has patients from Modi'in, Jerusalem, Mevasseret Zion, Ma'aleh Adumim and Ashdod. "My prices are like in East Jerusalem." The prices: NIS 100-220 for a filling, NIS 350 for a root canal ("on average, all-inclusive). A good day: "For example, a boy came to me holding two teeth in his hand that had fallen out 12 hours before. I replanted them and they held." This is why he chose dentistry: "Because you see immediate results, not like with my brother." (Dr. Nader, his twin brother, specializes in internal medicine at Bikur Holim Hospital in Jerusalem.) In addition: He is doing a Ph.D. in public dentistry at Hadassah Medical Center Ein Kerem, Jerusalem and once a week volunteers at a geriatric dental clinic in the Jerusalem branch of the Yad Sarah humanitarian organization. Hanali's livelihood: Dr. Hanali Abdel Rahman, a pediatric dentist, studied in Irbid, Jordan, and did her children's residency at Hadassah. In addition to lecturing at Al-Quds University in Jerusalem, she works at the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood clinic (in East Jerusalem) of the Meuhedet health maintenance organization as well as at the HMO's central Jerusalem branch. She also does general pediatric anesthesia at Jerusalem's St. Joseph's Hospital and treats children in the Abu Ghosh clinic. She works a five-day week with irregular hours ("the earliest is 9 A.M., the latest is 8 P.M."), driving the family Jiminy, mainly to Sheikh Jarrah ("because of the roads") and a Mitsubishi Lancer to closer places. "A good day? When I get home early." Murad's bio: Born in Abu Ghosh in 1974. His father was also born in the village (a journalist, a public figure and the owner of a minimarket); his mother, a former schoolteacher (she taught in the nearby Jewish-Arab community of Neveh Shalom), is originally from the village of Emmaus, near the Latrun junction on the Jerusalem-Tel Aviv road (one of three villages razed after the Six-Day War and replaced by Canada Park). Murad has three sisters (a lawyer, an optometrist and a psychology student) and a twin brother (as noted). His elementary and high-school studies, at St. George's School in East Jerusalem, were followed by a matriculation certificate ("an Israeli one") in biology, a year of construction work and dental school at Pavlov State Medical University in St. Petersburg. St. Petersburg: "Gorgeous - seven years went by like one day." He adjusted quickly to the Russian winter, and to the language ("After a year I spoke Russian as though I had been speaking it my whole life"). The studies were financed by his father ("a hundred dollars was enough to live on for a month"). Back in Israel, after passing the Health Ministry exam he worked in various clinics until opening his own (in 1999). Hanali's bio: Born in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Wadi Joz in 1977. Her father, Mohammed Abu Shalabiya, who was born in Lod and who died in 1995, was an author and a journalist who also taught political science at Al-Quds University. Her mother ended her teaching career after her third child was born. ("We were four girls and one boy"). After spending two years in Boston as a child ("Dad taught at Harvard"), she returned to Jerusalem and attended Catholic school in the eastern part of the city. She earned a matriculation certificate at age 16 ("I finished summa cum laude, with a 96.6 average"), and went to Irbid to study dentistry, at "the Jordanian University of Science and Technology." She recalls Irbid as being quite dry ("I had culture shock"). She returned after five years, continuing her studies at Hadassah Ein Kerem and interning at a dental clinic in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Beit Safafa, where she met Murad. The meeting: 2000. He was already a dentist, she was about to take the Health Ministry license exam. Murad offered to teach her and came to Hanali's home every day bearing books and hopes. When she passed the exam he sank into a depression. He realized it meant there would be no more meetings. ("At least 20 guys asked for her hand.") She was about to marry one of the 20 ("a senior surgeon"). In the course of one restless night he realized that he must not miss the opportunity. He rose at 6 A.M., met his father (who was just opening the grocery store), told him that he was about to go and ask for Hanali's hand, received his blessing and proceeded to her home in Wadi Joz. By that time it was 7 A.M. After being greeted by Intisar, Hanali's mother, who served him coffee, he told her that he wanted to marry her daughter. "I told her, 'I have no money, I am just starting out, but she will be a queen in the house.'" The mother called in the daughter, the daughter asked for time to think ("about the surgeon"), and three months later she sent Murad a flower. Murad: "I still have it." The wedding: 2003, in two parts. The first part, in the morning, was in the village, with 3,000 to 4,000 guests. The second part, in the evening, was at the Intercontinental Hotel, on Mount Scopus, with another 1,600 guests. The presents, she says, were mainly Jordanian dinars or U.S. dollars. Family vs. career: Hanali says she is ready to abandon her career tomorrow and stay at home. ("If I were really rich, I would do it.") However, she says, that is not yet a viable option. ("One hand cannot clap alone.") Division of labor: "Murad helps if he senses that I'm really tired." Sometimes Intisar sends over her cleaner to help out. Additional assistance: Intisar also helps with taking Natali to kindergarten (on Hanevi'im Street in West Jerusalem). Getting up at night: Murad. "I have a problem," Natali says. "If I get up, I can't get back to sleep again." Dreams: Murad - to complete his doctorate; Hanali - to work less and spend more time with the children. ("We will have only one more child, maybe two.") Going out: They like malls (Malha in Jerusalem, Harel in nearby Mevasseret Zion, Seven Stars in Herzliya). They spend a lot of time at Shilav, the baby store chain - and often eat at fish restaurants in Jaffa or Jericho. They recently took the telephrique (cable car) to the top of Jebel Quruntal, outside OF Jericho. Peace: "Two states, side by side, that's the only solution," Murad says. "It's a pity about the blood that has been spilled." Hanali says her father always advocated coexistence. Hummus: "It's dangerous to single out a place here," Murad notes. [Abu Ghosh is famous for its hummus restaurants.] "I eat at all the hummus places because all the owners are clients of mine." Happiness quotient (scale of 1-10): 10 (both of them). Hummus (notwithstanding): Murad leads us, in the Jiminy, down through the narrow alleyways; he stops in the wadi below, points at Abu Shukri and makes a hasty getaway. We swore an oath of silence. The place Abu Ghosh - A village 10 kilometers west of Jerusalem with a population of about 6,000, named for a family that settled at the site in the 16th century. There are archaeological ruins from all periods, as well as churches and mosques. By tradition, it is the location of the biblical Kiryat Ya'arim.

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No internal controls Though government hospitals enjoy huge state budgets, none have internal auditors.	Convenience capitalism Today's economy is made of 'capitalists' and 'socialists' who are out of touch with reality.