By
Bill Strubbe
2 min read
By
Bill Strubbe
Once or twice a week, just before dawn, Amatzia Dayan from Kibbutz Ein Hashofet drives through the border crossing near Magen Shaul. There, he picks up Palestinian children and their families from Jenin to ferry them to Rambam Hospital in Haifa.
The sick children may be suffering from cancer, leukaemia or other life-threatening illness. Today, two brothers, 14 and 15, are waiting with their father. The boys have thalassaemia, a genetic mutation affecting the production of haemoglobin that is common among Palestinians.
"Two out of six of my children have thalassaemia, as well as one of my cousins and an uncle.
I would guess that about 300 children in the Jenin area suffer from it," says the boys' father, Norman. "Since there are no dialysis machines in Jenin, we have to travel to Rambam several times a month, and the only way to do this is with the help of Israeli drivers." Palestinians with serious health conditions must obtain special permits to receive treatment in Israel, but they are not allowed to drive their own vehicles past the checkpoints. Taxis would be prohibitively expensive for most.
Instead, more than 500 Israelis volunteer with the organisation the Road to Recovery pick up Palestinians at the border checkpoints, driving them to hospitals in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, and Haifa. Being a passenger in a vehicle with an Israeli license plate and an Israeli driver helps minimise the transit time through the checkpoints. What could take several hours might be reduced to 10 or 15 minutes.
Thalassaemia, and the frequent blood transfusions it necessitates, causes deposits of iron to accumulate in the body, which damage the heart, liver and endocrine system. The disease can cause the bone marrow to expand, and can result in an abnormal and brittle bone structure. Without regular blood transfusions at least every three months and adequate iron chelation therapy to remove excess iron, most patients would eventually die. Neither of those two treatments are available in Gaza and the West Bank.
The Road to Recovery was started in 2006 by Yuval Roth, member of Kibbutz Magan Micha'el. In 1994, Yuval's brother, Udi, was kidnapped and killed in Gaza by Hamas. He decided to do something positive with his grief and joined Parents' Circle - Families' Forum, a group of Israelis and Palestinians who have seen loved ones killed in the conflict.
Mr Roth befriended many Palestinians, some of whom told him about the need for access to Israeli healthcare facilities. "Then one day, a man in the forum from Jenin called and told me his brother might have a brain tumour. He had an appointment at Rambam but no way to go," Mr Roth says. "He asked if I could drive him, and I agreed."
When other Palestinians asked for assistance, Mr Roth recruited friends. Within several years, Road to Recovery came together as an "act of reconciliation instead of revenge".
To date, the organisation has assisted over 450 Palestinian families, involving more than 2,500 hospital trips.
Road to Recovery believes that trust between Israelis and Palestinians can only come about through engagement and personal involvement, and by putting humanity before politics.
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