How
Can A Dying Man Pose
A Security Threat?
By Roi Mandel
13 November, 2007
Ynetnews
Na'al al-Kurdi, 21, from Gaza
is dying of cancer; for the past four months Na'al has been waiting
for a permit from the State of Israel to enter the country in order
to receive medical care in one of its hospitals. This permit has not
been granted so far due to "security concerns."
On Monday the High Court
has ordered the State to reexamine its decision regarding the transfer
of seven Palestinian patients from Gaza into Israel for treatment, and
issue a decision on the matter within one week.
The High Court's ruling came
following a petition by Physicians for Human Rights filed last week.
Some of the organization's members said they were astonished by the
state's refusal to allow people in critical condition to enter Israel
on the pretense that they posed a security threat.
The group petitioned the
court last Thursday and requested that 11 patients in critical condition
be allowed entry into Israel, or passage to the West Bank or Jordan
in order to receive life-saving treatment there.
On Monday morning, shortly
before the High Court handed down its ruling on the petition, the Shin
Bet declared it would allow four of the 11 patients entry into the country.
'Can't even stand
up'
One of those whose entry
has been banned is Na'al, who suffers from a carcinogenic tumor in his
testicles. Na'al has undergone chemotherapy at the Shifa hospital in
Gaza, but last July his doctors recommended that he undergo further
tests at the Sourasky Medical Center in Tel Aviv.
However, Na'al has not been
able to obtain an entry permit, despite a medical opinion supporting
the move from the head of the Radiotherapy Unit at the Wolfson hospital
in Holon, Prof Eyal Pfenig.
Recently, Na'al's condition
has deteriorated, and several days ago his doctors found secondary growths
in his liver and diagnosed him with cholestatic injury related to jaundice.
Two other medical opinions
by prominent Israeli physicians stated that without urgent treatment,
Na'al faces a painful deterioration in his condition that would inevitably
lead to his death.
PHR stressed that Na'al could
no longer even stand up, let alone walk, and wondered how a man in such
state could be branded by the Shin Bet a security risk.
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