A Father Desperate to Save His Son’s Life Asks Only for a Bit of Mercy

By Mohammed Omer


	Mustapha Al Jamal holds a picture of his cancer-stricken son, Yahya. (Photo M. Omer).

Canvassing door-to-door, the stately figure of 76-year-old Mustapha Al Jamal pleads with neighbors and strangers alike for their assistance in gaining access to the medicines necessary to keep his 53-year-old son, Yahya Al Jamal, alive. At home, barely cognizant of his father’s efforts, a bedridden Yahya stares at the ceiling, pale, prostrate and listless. Beside him the meter on an oxygen tank ticks rhythmically, bestowing life and serving as his primary companion 24 hours a day.

“My son’s situation continues to worsen,” the elder Al Jamal explains, shaking his head in disbelief. “We’ve been waiting two months for the medications that can save his life.”

His son’s illness brings tragedy full circle for this father. Last year Al Jamal’s 44-year-old daughter, a mother of six, died of breast cancer. Medications had her on the road to recovery, but with the Israeli siege, medicines were blockaded and, after seven months, she died. Nearing panic, Al Jamal continues, determined not to lose another child. A simple transfer to an Israeli hospital less than a two-hour drive away would provide Yahya access to the German medication necessary to treat his cancer, which started in the kidney last year, spread to his right lung and is now infecting his liver.

At present, Israel refuses to allow Yahya passage for medical care, claiming the oxygen tank-
anchored cancer patient constitutes a “security risk.” Just last July 20 and Oct. 2, however, Yahya was granted passage to Sourasky Medical Center in Tel Aviv. On his second visit the hospital offered to sell the family 28 tablets of his prescribed medicine for 35,500 shekels (about $9,000).

Paying for Healthcare

Israel deducts the costs of medications for Palestinian patients treated in Israeli hospitals from the taxes it collects on behalf of the Palestinian Authority (PA)—the bulk of which it continues to retain rather than turn over. Whenever possible, the PA continues to pay the costs for Palestinians treated in Israeli, Jordanian and Egyptian hospitals.

Currently nearly 70 percent of Gaza’s population lives on less than $2 a day. Once Israel declared Gaza a “hostile entity” and shut its borders, it prevented those in need of extreme medical care from traveling to Israel, Jordan, or Egypt—and even to West Bank hospitals with staffed facilities and supplies in stock. Without access to medicine, increasing numbers of Palestinian men, women and children find themselves in dire health situations. More and more of them do not survive.

Despite these political and financial hurdles Yahya’s exhausted father presses on. “I do my best,” he says simply. “The rest is in God’s hands."

Efforts by the international community and thousands of people inside Israel have resulted in a few medical shipments entering Gaza. Unfortunately, due to the chaos caused by the ongoing siege, regular attacks by Israel (fighting among Palestinian factions ended weeks ago), and the destruction of humanitarian infrastructure, a distribution system is lacking. Not only are those in need of medication unable to obtain it, but health workers are unable to determine who needs what or accurately inventory and distribute what supplies they have.

According to Dr. Iman Abu Ouan, one of the physicians treating Yahya Al Jamal, “If the proper medications were available, Al Jamal’s case would not be as bad as it is now. Proper medication may have prevented the disease from spreading throughout his body. Every day there is a delay in medicine, his health deteriorates. Once it spreads to his lungs,” she explains, “he will reach a point where he will not be able to breathe anymore.”

Dr. Abu Quan points out that her hospital contains two rooms with radiology equipment for use in cancer treatment. Each room can accommodate five patients—not nearly enough to handle the population served by the hospital, or extreme cases requiring isolation and around-the-clock care. Additionally, the lack of available beds in Gaza’s hospitals forces patients to recuperate from surgery on the floor, often with blankets supplied by their own families. Others in need of care are asked to leave.

Although critically ill, Al Jamal was asked to leave the local hospital in Rafah by doctors. With Israel’s ongoing air, tank and missile attacks on Gaza, hospital management requires that a certain number of rooms be available for the inevitable casualties.

“We don’t seek more than our rights,” Yahya’s grief-stricken father pleads. “We appeal to all humans in the world to end the suffering of our patients. I appeal to you, for the sake of God,” he cries in anguish, tears streaming from his eyes with the desperation only a father trying to save a child can know. “Please, for God’s sake! Help us get to the hospital in Tel Aviv. My son deserves to survive. All I ask is a bit of mercy.”

Mohammed Omer, winner of New America Media’s Best Youth Voice award, reports from the Gaza Strip, where he maintains the Web site <www.rafahtoday.org>. He can be reached at <gazanews@yahoo.com>.