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Dying of occupation - a case of cancer and the Israeli right
By Bradley Burston, Haaretz Correspondent
Tags: Israel, occupation, Gaza 

Opinion polls consistently demonstrate that most Israelis would like the occupation to end. These words are directed to the substantial minority which disagrees.

This past weekend, a Gaza cancer patient named Nail al-Kurdi, 20, waiting since July for permission to cross into Israel for treatment, died of his illness. For five months, officials of the Shin Bet security service received request after request from Physicians for Human Rights, asking that they grant al-Kurdi a permit to be treated in Israel.

Request after request was denied. The stated reason? Security. In July, he was referred to Ichilov hospital for urgent diagnostic procedures. As the refusals mounted, his cancer spread. In a case involving al-Kurdi and a number of other seriously ailing Palestinians denied travel requests for treatment, the physicians group appealed the Shin Bet refusals to the High Court. The court allowed prosecutors an extension in the case to allow them to study it further. Al-Kurdi did not survive the extension.
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The case bears special significance for Israelis who want the occupation to continue. Right-wing Israelis should be spearheading the fight for the rights of people like Nail al-Kurdi There is no evil quite like the evil of denying crucial medical treatment. Except one, perhaps.

Consider the case of Y.H., a 37-year-old Gazan in need of open-heart surgery. By contrast to al-Kurdi, the Shin Bet granted Y.H. an exit permit, so that he could travel to the West Bank city of Nablus for the operation. According to the physicians group, when he came to Erez Crossing to leave Gaza, Shin Bet agents called him aside for interrogation.

"If you help us we will help you," Y.H. quoted the agent as telling him, adding that the Shin Bet man asked him to provide information about his acquaintances.

The physicians group said that when Y.H. replied that he had no such information, "the interrogator said 'If you don't help up we won't help you. Go and die in Gaza.' He sent him back home, promising that he would never leave Gaza."

You may be among those who want to see the occupation continue because they believe that Arabs, and the greater Muslim world, will never truly abide the existence of a Jewish state, and that Palestinian independence in the West Bank and Gaza will serve as a base for unending attacks against Israel.

You need to fight for the humanitarian rights of Palestinians.

You may believe, with the Bible and/or Revisionist Zionism as your guide, that the borders of Israel should encompass all of the Holy Land from the Mediterranean to the River Jordan.

You, of all people, should work to see that Palestinians in need receive the aid they require.

You may ardently, wholeheartedly, unabashedly side with the settlers, and want to see their enterprise grow, prosper, and become permanent. You may be among those who dismiss entirely the rights of the Palestinians to a homeland and even to peoplehood.

You, more than anyone, should be zealous in seeing that the Palestinians in your midst are treated with the respect and concern that you accord any fellow human being. The same respect you would accord a fellow Jew.

For the rest of us in Israel, the struggle to support the rights of needy Palestinians encompasses all of this, plus the broader effort to undo and dismantle the occupation, before it undoes and dismantles the state of Israel.

Many on the right have suggested that it is now too late by far to end the occupation. Many on the left have become fearful that they are right.

In the meanwhile, however, the occupation continues to kill innocent people, and not only because they were unlucky enough to be in harm's way, caught in a crossfire. All too often, the occupation kills because we - right and left both - do much too little to keep it from killing. We have become too used to allowing cancer to go untreated, especially when it is eating away at our own conscience.


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  1.   The inner-Israeli struggle between "good" and "evil" 12:43  |  Swiss (Dino) 19/11/07
  2.   Torah requires one law for those who dwell in the Land 13:51  |  Joseph 19/11/07
  3.   Unlike al-Dura 13:54  |  Sherlock Holmes 19/11/07
  4.   Human rights... 13:58  |  Ben Azai 19/11/07
  5.   Brad, agree in principal, but this guy was TERMINAL 18:05  |  Jay 19/11/07
  6.   What about the children of Sderot and Ashkelon? 19:20  |  A jew 19/11/07
  7.   Random Acts of Kindness 19:59  |  Blinky the Fish 19/11/07
  8.   Jay, it`s not enough to just say "he was terminal" 20:15  |  Diane Mason 19/11/07
  9.   You have to be a bit more specific 20:21  |  Per 19/11/07
  10.   Palestinian rights to Israeli medical care 20:56  |  Yitzchak Klein 19/11/07
  11.   Israel without its humanity ceases to be Jewish 22:46  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 19/11/07
  12.   Save our enemies 23:42  |  Yitzchak Klein 19/11/07
  13.   To Cipora (#11) 00:00  |  Morris Valentine 20/11/07
  14.   Well written, Cipora. A pity #6 considers himself a Jew 00:00  |  Michael 20/11/07
  15.   Amen again Cipora! 00:14  |  S 20/11/07
  16.   Who Really Put Israel In This Situation? 01:19  |  ZADOK 20/11/07
  17.   #15, S 02:17  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 20/11/07
  18.   #14, Michael 02:48  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 20/11/07
  19.   Bradley must be making up his own polls. 03:59  |  Chaim 20/11/07
  20.   Cipora and the other cardiac Jews 05:59  |  Yitzchak Klein 20/11/07
  21.   An Israeli is an Israeli is an Israeli. 09:23  |  Andreas 20/11/07
  22.   Does it really matter what you believe ? 09:24  |  Dr. Julian Darwish 20/11/07
  23.   # 11 Cipora Julianna Kohn "The ballot box will tell...." 09:24  |  Swiss (Dino) 20/11/07
  24.   occupation? 09:25  |  debora 20/11/07
  25.   The Philistines Will Stop Trying To Murder And Ethnically Cleanse 09:29  |  Yishai Kohen 20/11/07
  26.   Israel is lost 09:43  |  Clickfool 20/11/07
  27.   THE morons who yell anti Israel slogans here help nobody 09:45  |  PETER SM 20/11/07
  28.   Bradley bumps his head in the night 09:46  |  peter 20/11/07
  29.   Lovely post, Cipora # 11 09:48  |  Clickfool 20/11/07
  30.   Remission, metastasis or surgery? 09:48  |  sh 20/11/07
  31.   The real story at this moment 09:58  |  sh 20/11/07
  32.   Arabs spend their money on weapons and not medicine 10:00  |  Naomi 20/11/07
  33.   For Naomi # 32 10:22  |  Clickfool 20/11/07
  34.   Burston,a high school dropout,a Leftie dictator in the making 10:32  |  Absolute Sweden 20/11/07
  35.   Andreas, we will define ourselves. Butt out 10:43  |  Israeli Jew 20/11/07
  36.   Bradley and the settlers are right 10:44  |  Yohann 20/11/07
  37.   #30, 31, sh 10:51  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 20/11/07
  38.   Usual reminder: Haaretz is a propaganda enemy of Israel 10:53  |  Steve Randolph 20/11/07
  39.   Reply to Bradley 10:57  |  Proud Israeli 20/11/07
  40.   Jewish Values (such as they are) 11:04  |  Natallie Durson 20/11/07
  41.   An employee of the Jerusalem Post visits Haaretz # 38 11:32  |  Clickfool 20/11/07
  42.   Cipora dear, even Clickfool approves. You are great! 11:35  |  S 20/11/07
  43.   MY GOD 11:42  |  indrajaya 20/11/07
  44.   Some people here seem to have "butterflies in their stomach".... 11:50  |  Swiss (Dino) 20/11/07
  45.   NDURSON.Islamic values such as"Religion of peace" 12:00  |  PETER S.M. 20/11/07
  46.   NDURSON.Islamic values such as"Religion of peace" 12:00  |  PETER S.M. 20/11/07
  47.   CEASE TO BE JEWISH? 12:03  |  indrajaya 20/11/07
  48.   #26 Clickfool 12:17  |  Daybreak 20/11/07
  49.   For Daybreak, pushing against an open door # 48 12:26  |  Clickfool 20/11/07
  50.   Blessed are the meek 12:30  |  The truth 20/11/07
  51.   Ludicrous 12:35  |  Dr Eric 20/11/07
  52.   # 48 Daybreak, I really hate to insist (for the 3rd time...)..... 12:39  |  Swiss (Dino) 20/11/07
  53.   Palestinian child dies after being denied medical treatment in Is 12:41  |  Dav 20/11/07
  54.   settlers 12:43  |  jj burke 20/11/07
  55.   Clickfool 12:45  |  markinlondon 20/11/07
  56.   to diane mason 12:47  |  dr eric 20/11/07
  57.   swiss dino thinks the "world" revolves around him (3rd try) 12:57  |  CK Tan 20/11/07
  58.   Swiss Left and right wingers - struggle 12:59  |  17 20/11/07
  59.   evil+"the palestinians in our midst" 13:01  |  nina 20/11/07
  60.   # 57 CK Tan, I think we can make it rather quick this time.... 13:14  |  Swiss (Dino) 20/11/07
  61.   # 58 17, I know now why you are living in..... 13:17  |  Swiss (Dino) 20/11/07
  62.   #49 Clickfool 13:20  |  Daybreak 20/11/07
  63.   #42, S 13:23  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 20/11/07
  64.   #23, Dino 13:25  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 20/11/07
  65.   55 MarkinLondon re the Clickfool 13:25  |  The Equalizer 20/11/07
  66.   40 Natalie, praytell what about the Saudi rape victim 13:31  |  The Equalizer 20/11/07
  67.   17 #58 13:35  |  Jasmine Murphy 20/11/07
  68.   About @14 Michael 13:43  |  MaryRose 20/11/07
  69.   Bradley telling us to dismantle our defences? 13:46  |  Margie in Tel Aviv 20/11/07
  70.   Get Rid Off Lefties Corruption & Murderous Arabs Occupation 13:49  |  Joseph E . 20/11/07
  71.   "Why Do They Hate Us?" ISRAEL`S Inhumanity Is Obvious & Horrific! 13:49  |  Proud Pal Defender 20/11/07
  72.   Cipora #11 14:01  |  GABE1 20/11/07
  73.   # 67 Jasmine, didn`t have a good time on your last holiday.... 14:07  |  Swiss (Dino) 20/11/07
  74.   #71/ "Why do they hate us" 14:09  |  Anne 20/11/07
  75.   BRAVO Bradley! MORE Jews/Israelis Need To Stand Up!! 14:11  |  Proud Pal Defender 20/11/07
  76.   #69 is right on the israeli side, now ask the 14:15  |  ranzoo 20/11/07
  77.   Swiss (dino) 14:16  |  Jasmine Murphy 20/11/07
  78.   #72 Gabe1 14:21  |  Daybreak 20/11/07
  79.   Another Guilt Trip - The Leftists LOVE to Wallow in Guilt 14:21  |  Klaudia