Palestinian doctor comes to Israelis' aid

Shira Mark-Harif says she had a bad feeling Friday when she heard there had been a Palestinian shooting attack on an Israeli car in the southern West Bank. Her parents and a brother and sister were driving that morning on a highway near their home in the Otniel settlement.

"I just tried to call to my mom, and she didn't answer to me," said Mark-Harif, 24. "Then I called to my father. And he didn't answer to me. And I knew."

Her father Miki - who had 10 children - didn't make it.

But her mother survived - thanks in part to a Palestinian doctor who stopped to help. Mark-Harif says her sister Tehila was in the car, and at first, she was terrified to see a Palestinian approach her.

"They thought they were going to kill them," Mark-Harif said. "They were shaken and scared. And now we know that my mother - every minute was so important to save her life."

Israelis and Palestinians live in mutual suspicion in the West Bank. Israel conquered the territory from Jordan in 1967, and Israelis there say the Bible gives them the right to settle in the land of ancient Jewish history. The Palestinians say these settlements are making it impossible to create a future state. Much of the contact between the two peoples is Palestinians working as menial workers in Israeli towns, or via military checkpoints.

In the last ten months, Palestinians have launched dozens of attacks that have killed 34 Israelis in the West Bank and Israel. At least 200 Palestinians have been killed in the same period by Israeli forces. Israel says most were attackers.

In this atmosphere, urologist Ali Shroukh (pictured above) drove from his home in the town of Dahriya, near Otniel, to Jerusalem on Friday. He had special permission to attend prayers in the Aqsa mosque during the holy month of Ramadan. On his way, he saw an overturned grey Toyota with yellow Israeli license plates - and he pulled over.

"I forgot that I am a Palestinian and they are Jews," he said. "My work gives me everything to do for the people."

Blame game

Medicine has been a rare point of cooperation in the current climate of hostility. Israeli military spokesman Lt.-Col. Peter Lerner said Israeli soldiers often treat Palestinians in the field, even when the Palestinians were injured after attacking Israelis. Israeli hospitals also treat Palestinian assailants. Still, Lerner said it was rare for a private Palestinian doctor to treat Israelis on his own.

Palestinian Red Crescent spokeswoman Erab Fuqaha said Palestinian medical teams have treated Israeli patients in "hundreds of cases."

Both sides have blamed each other for medical negligence. Palestinians have accused Israelis of denying or delaying care to Palestinians. Israeli rescue services director Elin Bin told Israel Radio in March that medics do not treat injured Palestinian assailants until after a sapper has made sure they are not carrying explosives.

In November, Rabbi Yaakov Litman and his 18-year-old son were killed when their car came under fire in the West Bank. Litman's surviving son said a Palestinian ambulance passed them by. The Palestinian Red Crescent said they did stop and offer to help, but Israeli medics and military troops were already on the scene.

In the case of Miki Mark, the help was immediate. Another Palestinian man had stopped earlier and pried the daughter, Tehila, out of the car. He gave her his phone to call for help.

Dr. Shroukh pulled the mother Chava out of the car and bandaged her head. He also bandaged Tehila's stomach wounds. His brother, Mahmoud, works in construction in Israel and helped translate from Hebrew to Arabic.

After a Palestinian ambulance came, Dr. Shroukh continued to Jerusalem to pray.

On Wednesday, he spoke to DW in Dahriya, a Palestinian city of about 40,000 people. Since the Friday shooting, Israeli roadblocks have cut off most easy access to the town. The army says it's helping them search for the gunmen, who are still at large. About 700,000 Palestinians have been affected by the road closures.

Dr. Shroukh didn't want to talk about that. He left the West Bank in 1990 to study medicine in Moscow. He returned last year and lives in an apartment connected to his clinic. His balcony is full of tomato plants.

"Our family - our family don't think about the politic situation here," he said. "Because we are a quiet family and we want to live."

The Ramadan fasting month had just ended, and children roamed the streets looking to spend money they received for the Eid el Fitr holiday.

One man sold toy guns to children across the street from Dr. Shroukh's house. He said settlers should leave the West Bank - but a Palestinian doctor should still help anyone in need.

'Terrorists not Arabs'

In Otniel, Miki Mark's children mourned their father. He was a loving man, Mark-Harif said. The yard around his home was filled with olive trees and a trampoline, and now, a constant stream of people paying condolences.

After the shooting, Mark-Harif's sister-in-law posted on Facebook a request to refer to Miki Mark's killers as terrorists, not Arabs. She wrote, "Not every Arab is a terrorist, and I say this from experience."

Mark-Harif said her father had close Palestinian associates who worked for him building projects like Otniel's imposing Jewish yeshiva. Some even came to visit the house of mourning, she said.

Dr. Shroukh's small act gave her comfort at a time when Palestinian gunmen had slain the pillar of her family, Mark-Harif said.

"I'm so happy it happened like that," she said. "That [Arabs came] and helped them. This is my father. This is our life."

Dr. Shroukh said he hopes to meet the Mark family.

"I don't want them to thank me," he said. "They are my patients."