PMW Bulletin
May 22, 2013

Official PA daily acknowledges
Israeli hospital's medical care
for Palestinian children and training of doctors
http://www.palwatch.org/main.aspx?fi=157&doc_id=9049

by Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik

The official PA daily reported on a visit by the PA Minister of Health, Hani
Abdeen, to Israel's Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem. The daily noted that 30%
of the child patients in Hadassah are Palestinians and that the Israeli
hospital is training "60 Palestinian medical interns and specialist
physicians who will be returning to the [Palestinian] Authority areas to
carry out their work." The hospital has a special program to train
Palestinian doctors to treat cancer among children, reported the PA daily.

The following is the report:

"[PA] Minister of Health, Hani Abdeen visited the [Israeli] Hadassah
Hospital yesterday [May 5, 2013]. This is the first visit by a Palestinian
minister to one of the most important Israeli hospitals, according to the
hospital's announcement.
Minister Abdeen who was accompanied by a delegation that included senior
officials of the ministry and of the PA, met with the Director of Ein Karem
Hadassah Hospital, Yuval Weiss. He [the minister] visited Palestinian
patients being treated in the hospital, and he distributed gifts. [Hospital
director] Weiss said: 'We relate to patients without regard to nationality
and religion. We treat Muslims, Christians, Jews, and other nationalities
without bias, and 30% of the patients who are children are Palestinians.'
He went on to say: 'We've begun cooperating with the Palestinians. We now
train teams of physicians from the hospital in Beit Jala in the southern
West Bank, to treat cancer among children. We have about 60 Palestinian
medical interns and specialist physicians who will be returning to the
[Palestinian] Authority areas to carry out their work.'"
[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, May 6, 2013]

This article documenting Israel's medical care for Palestinian children is a
change from common PA accusations that Israel intentionally tries to hurt
Palestinians, for example by spreading drugs intentionally among Palestinian
youth.