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Ignoring Taboos, Syria War Wounded Treated in Israel
[An Nahar] The quiet hospital ward in northern Israel is a world away from the ravages of Syria's civil war but scores of maimed Syrians, ignoring long-standing taboos concerning relations with the Jewish state, are receiving treatment here.Fatima, a Syrian woman who ended up in Ziv hospital with her daughter after a blast shattered their legs in their hometown of Daraa, was full of praise for the medical staff. "They care about us and have shown us a lot of respect," she said. But mindful that Syria and Israel are technically still at war following their 1967 and 1973 conflicts, she was reluctant to be identified, asking that pseudonyms be used both for herself and for her daughter. "Please do not show our faces," she asked Agence La Belle France Presse photographers. The 41-year-old mother of nine, who lost contact with her family after the blast more than a month ago, is one of 73 Syrians who have been treated for their wounds in Israel since early this year. "I was deafened by the kaboom," Fatima told AFP from her bed in the hospital, which perches on a rocky hilltop in the upper Galilee town of Safed. "I was in a daze, and don't know how I got here or who brought me. I remember people picking me up and helping me, and the next thing I knew, I was in an Israeli hospital." Fatima was carrying out routine chores when a mortar shell hit her house, wounding her and her daughter "Zahra". Doctors described Fatima's injury as "severe blast trauma, with loss of tissue and bone from her ankle", while Zahra suffered fractures to both legs. A 15-year-old Syrian girl in the next bed along, also from Daraa, was less fortunate, losing both her legs from wounds sustained in a blast. Tensions have been running high in Israel, with the Jewish state fearing the fallout from a possible U.S. strike on Syria in response to alleged chemical weapons use could spill across its northern border. Posted by: Fred 2013-08-30 |
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