Arabs donate 'martyr' organs to help Israelis
Wednesday June 06 2001
Mazen Joulani (33), a pharmacist, was shot dead in Jerusalem on Friday.
His family believes that it was in revenge for the suicide bomb attack that killed 21 Israelis outside a beachfront disco in Tel Aviv.
After anguished debate, the family decided to donate his lungs, liver, kidneys, heart and pancreas to the Israeli transplant system, which provides organs to Jews and Arabs on a strict queueing system.
It was the first time since the uprising began that any Palestinian had offered organs that could save Jewish lives. Israel has been in deep shock since the disco bombing, while Palestinians are mourning their 450 dead.
David Cohen, whose brother, Yigal, 37, received the heart, said he was "surprised" to hear that the donor was an Arab. "Apparently there are no borders or wars when acts of mercy are concerned," he said.
"This is a noble deed on the part of the family.
"The very fact of the act taught me that there are other kinds of people on the other side, and maybe there are more. Through people like this we will find the path to peace."
The surgeon who carried out the heart transplant, Dr Yaacov Lavie, said he had realised that at one stage he had a Palestinian heart in his right hand and the heart of a Jew in his left.
"You smile to yourself and see that deep inside we are same and all the conflicts are unnecessary," he said.
Mr Joulani's brother, Majdi, 30, is on dialysis and waiting for a kidney.
Majdi said: "We hope the Israelis will look at us in the same way we looked at them - with humanity."
The circumstances of his brother's death in East Jerusalem on Thursday night are disputed.
The Israeli police say Mr Joulani was shot by another Palestinian in a dispute.
The family insists it was a revenge attack for recent suicide bombings in Jerusalem.
Hopes for peace following the disco bomb attack have faded, with militant Islamic group Hamas declaring it would keep attacking Israelis "everywhere," setting back hopes that the Palestinians were edging towards a ceasefire with Israel.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon launched a heated verbal assault on Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, calling him a "murderer and a pathological liar" in an English-language interview with Russian television channel NTV.
In a sign of heightened US efforts to end eight months of violence, President George W Bush said CIA Director George Tenet would return to the Middle East tomorrow for talks.
"We believe enough progress has been made on the ceasefire that it is time to send George Tenet to the Middle East to start serious discussions at the security level about how to make sure the ceasefire continues," he told reporters at the White House.
"We're very hopeful that this step will continue to be a part of building confidence in the region," Bush said, adding that "political discussions" on peace issues could begin once security arrangements were in place.
It will be Tenet's first trip to the region since October, although lower-ranking CIA officials were involved in meetings with both sides this year.
Hamas vowed no let-up in its conflict with Israel.
"We are not offering any ceasefire," a senior Hamas official said, pledging to attack Israelis "everywhere" "If I accept a ceasefire it means ... I am raising a white flag," Hamas's spiritual leader, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, told reporters.
"They should remove their settlers. Our land must be returned and our people must win liberation."
At least 450 Palestinians, 110 Israelis and 13 Israeli Arabs have been killed in the last eight months.
(Daily Telegraph, London)
- Alan Philps in Jerusalem
