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Alaa Oudeh, whose legs were amputated after he was forbidden entry to Israel. (Physicians for Human Rights)
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Physicians for Human Rights: Only most severely wounded Palestinians allowed into Israel
By Yuval Azoulay, Haaretz Correspondent

Israel is allowing only the most severely wounded Palestinians to enter for medical treatment, and not to those at risk of losing limbs or suffering other debilitating handicaps, according to Physicians for Human Rights.

Hundreds of people were injured during the June clashes in the Gaza Strip between Hamas and Fatah. However, only those whose lives were in danger were allowed into Israel for treatment. Others, whose injuries endangered "only" their quality of life, remained in the Gaza Strip for treatment, PHR wrote to the defense minister and the health minister.

Out of 44 requests to transfer injured individuals for treatment in Israel, 16 were refused by authorities in Israel, PHR said. In some cases, this meant physicians in Gaza had to amputate limbs because treatment was delayed too long.
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A senior defense official responded, "No medical prioritization was carried out. From the moment Hamas took power in the Gaza Strip, we lost all communication with the Palestinians on the other side of the Erez Crossing. The only coordinating body is the Red Cross, which indicated to us the status of the injured, and later became a coordinating body. In cases of serious injuries, we brought them for treatment in
Israel. There were cancer patients who continued to come to Israel to receive chemotherapy."

Alaa Oudeh, 25, from Gaza, is wheelchair-bound. Both his legs were amputated. Oudeh, 25, was marked as a Fatah member, and in the bloody clashes three months ago, that was a good enough reason for Hamas to shoot 14 bullets into his legs. Speaking by phone from Gaza, Oudeh said Hamas activists came to his building and killed a senior Palestinian Police officer. "Right after they took the officer and killed him, they came into my house and forced me outside," he recalled. Oudeh was taken by jeep to a remote place.

There, two masked men shot him at close range, he said. "They said they would teach me and everyone else that it was forbidden to cooperate with Fatah. After they shot me, they kicked me in the legs where I had been shot. Then they left me there."

Oudeh says an ambulance brought him to Shifa Hospital in Gaza, which was crowded with people bleeding and screaming for help.

The blood vessels in Oudeh's legs were seriously damaged, and his leg and thigh bones were smashed. He was rushed to surgery, but four days later his condition was still deteriorating. The Palestinian Health Ministry requested he be moved to Israel for further treatment by experts.

His medical file was faxed to the deputy director of Sheba Hospital at Tel Hashomer, Professor Rafi Waldan, a worldwide vascular expert. Walden, who happens to be President Shimon Peres' son-in-law, determined that Oudeh should be brought to Israel within 24 hours to receive optimum treatment; otherwise his legs would have to be amputated.

However, the Erez Crossing was closed due to the riots. PHR sent Israeli security officials a request to have Oudeh transferred to Sheba or to Tel Aviv's Ichilov Hospital, but they prohibited Oudeh from entering Israel due to security reasons. PHR then petitioned the High Court of Justice in the name of Oudeh and 25 other Gazan patients blocked from entering Israel. Following a closed-door hearing, the justices ordered the security officials to "reexamine the required balance" between the urgency of medical treatment and the security risk presented by the patients.

Meanwhile, Oudeh's situation grew worse. Gaza doctors were forced to amputate his left leg, and PHR petitioned the High Court again. Security officials persuaded the court that Oudeh was a security risk. A week later, his other leg was amputated.

"A person is sitting in a wheelchair. How can he be a security risk to the state? To be so dangerous in that condition, he'd have to be a super-terrorist," said Ran Yaron, the PHR coordinator for Oudeh's case. "We asked the security establishment to transfer him to Jordan under guard, but they refused this, too. We feel like this is a matter of principle not to let him out," Yaron added.

"I don't understand why they won't let me in. I never did anything bad," Oudeh said.

The Shin Bet security service responded that Oudeh's request posed a danger to state security, and that they told this to the High Court. "Those in need of chemotherapy or high-level orthopedic treatment come to Israel," a security official said. "Israel is in permanent contact with the Palestinian health coordinator, Ahmad Abu-Reza. If he approves the transfer, it is a pledge by the Palestinian Authority to fund the treatment. If not, the patient pays. If the Shin Bet objects for security reasons, the whole process is called off. But the Shin Bet often grants requests for the transfer of injured individuals."



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  1.   pals must understand as must these docs no nice goodies so ong as 03:25  |  ralph 05/10/07
  2.   No sympathy here 03:33  |  * BEN JABO 05/10/07
  3.   As Qassams fall on Sderot, Israeli physicians treat Palestinians 03:37  |  Murray of Montreal 05/10/07
  4.   Poor Oudeh, so sad for him(not) 03:41  |  Boss Hog 05/10/07
  5.   Lessee here... 04:00  |  Colin Wright 05/10/07
  6.   tough you know what 04:03  |  vik 05/10/07
  7.   palestinian aid 04:19  |  real vision 05/10/07
  8.   That sucks 05:11  |  Nik 05/10/07
  9.   Colin Wright and hypocrisy 05:32  |  Alex 05/10/07
  10.   Ohh brother 06:16  |  Boris 05/10/07
  11.   #9, Alex and inaccuracy 06:17  |  Silvienne 05/10/07
  12.   #*Ben Jabo. Bullets don`t `roost.` They lodge! 07:12  |  Maureen Ann 05/10/07
  13.   The Apartheid state 07:14  |  steve 05/10/07
  14.   We risk.... 07:19  |  Esther 05/10/07
  15.   Re #11 07:25  |  Esther 05/10/07
  16.   are there no hospitals in egypt? 07:44  |  scallywag 05/10/07
  17.   I can`t believe what i`m reading.... 08:11  |  R 05/10/07
  18.   Re- # 4 08:30  |  sam 05/10/07
  19.   Pothetic Article 08:30  |  Nephtaly 05/10/07
  20.   hospitals 08:31  |  j10 05/10/07
  21.   Wright you`re wrong: because they`re talking about Gaza 08:34  |  Margie in Tel Aviv 05/10/07
  22.   Silvienne 08:39  |  Margie in Tel Aviv 05/10/07
  23.   Xenophobic Steve? 08:42  |  Margie in Tel Aviv 05/10/07
  24.   Pal girl,treated at Ber-Sheva hospital wanted to blow up the hosp 08:51  |  Absolute Sweden 05/10/07
  25.   RE-#16 08:53  |  SAM 05/10/07
  26.   RE-#19 NEPHTALI 09:08  |  sam 05/10/07
  27.   Send them to hospital.... 09:14  |  Stan 05/10/07
  28.   RE-#20 (j 10) 09:19  |  sam 05/10/07
  29.   Re #17 09:20  |  Esther 05/10/07
  30.   Esther,you better worry about Peretz bodyguard who lost his legs 10:28  |  Absolute Sweden 05/10/07
  31.   Esther pleading for help from the Arabs.. 10:47  |  Miriam Ashkelon 05/10/07
  32.   # 27 Stan in Hooverville 10:50  |  marsam 05/10/07
  33.   TO STEVE OF USA 10:52  |  Roland 05/10/07
  34.   Re #129 Rephrase please? 11:06  |  MaryRose 05/10/07
  35.   Margie #22 11:12  |  Guido 05/10/07
  36.   no sympathy for the devil--rolling stones 11:18  |  matilda 05/10/07
  37.   Guido 11:34  |  Margie in Tel Aviv 05/10/07
  38.   Matilda are you really in Israel? I doubt it 11:37  |  Hamuda 05/10/07
  39.   Re 30,31,34 and like-minded 11:43  |  Esther 05/10/07
  40.   Please explain WHY IL must feed,provide Medical Treat etc to Gaza 11:49  |  Alan 05/10/07
  41.   Sam 11:55  |  j10 05/10/07
  42.   Oh - Israel exists when you want it to? 12:04  |  Yered Shmuel 05/10/07
  43.   Esther,closters in Sweden lack nuns,join them 12:34  |  Absolute Sweden 05/10/07
  44.   Good point Yered 12:35  |  Margie in Tel Aviv 05/10/07
  45.   # 11 Silvienne 12:38  |  Lynn 05/10/07
  46.   Inhuman acts 12:42  |  Nano 05/10/07
  47.   hamauda 12:43  |  matilda 05/10/07
  48.   Colin Wright # 5 12:43  |  Lynn 05/10/07
  49.   #42 Yered Shmuel,you are the first one to point it 12:44  |  Hastaroth 05/10/07
  50.   # 13 Steve of Minn 12:47  |  Lynn 05/10/07
  51.   Nano of Sweden on inhuman acts 13:00  |  Lynn 05/10/07
  52.   Yered Shmuel 13:05  |  Lynn 05/10/07
  53.   Israel has no obligation to people who shoot Kassams at us 13:09  |  Joel 05/10/07
  54.   #42..Yered Shmuel 13:12  |  Nemesis 05/10/07
  55.   Is Ran Yaron suffering from amnesia? 13:18  |  Amos 05/10/07
  56.   to marsam in Amman 13:28  |  Stan 05/10/07
  57.   ESTHER CHAS VA CHLILAH ....... 13:35  |  Miriam 05/10/07
  58.   Re Absolute #42 13:55  |  Esther 05/10/07
  59.   Esther -the woman with a big W 14:04  |  Anne 05/10/07
  60.   SPEND SOME OF THAT EU MONEY ON A DECENT HOSPITAL! 14:05  |  SM 05/10/07
  61.   This Is Not Israel`s Responsibility 15:30  |  CHGODMK 05/10/07
  62.   SM/60 15:31  |  Anne 05/10/07
  63.   Esther,don`t worry about being Jewish,nobody`s perfect 15:32  |  Absolute Sweden 05/10/07
  64.   Wright you`re wrong: 15:34  |  Settler Babe 05/10/07
  65.   Aren`t Jews the Enemy 15:54  |  Motti 05/10/07
  66.   As it should be 16:04  |  David Teich 05/10/07
  67.   #62..Anne 16:27  |  Nemesis 05/10/07
  68.   I have sympathy here 16:38  |  Ron 05/10/07
  69.   Absolute Sweden(really swedish?) 16:40  |  Anne 05/10/07
  70.   He`s Lucky 16:50  |  Chick 05/10/07
  71.   Ron/ Your sympathy... 16:54  |  Anne 05/10/07
  72.   #12 Maureen Ann 17:01  |  * BEN JABO 05/10/07
  73.   The inconvenience of the Occupying Power 17:03  |  Tosefta 05/10/07
  74.   #11 Silvienne 17:04  |  * BEN JABO 05/10/07
  75.   #5 Colin Wrong 17:09  |  * BEN JABO 05/10/07
  76.   no. 50 Lynn 17:26  |  Steve 05/10/07
  77.   Not an aspirin until Red Cross sees Shalit. #73 Tosef. is wrong 18:06  |  Dr. L. Brnd 05/10/07
  78.   #1 Read the article again 18:08  |  Outsider 05/10/07
  79.   #19 18:14  |  outsider 05/10/07