Appeal for Bethlehem
25 November 2008
The Appeal for Bethlehem is raising urgent funds to ensure that where people are physically prevented from accessing medical care, our mobile clinics can bring it to them.
Nahil's Story
On September 5, 21-year-old Nahil, who was seven months pregnant, suddenly went into labour. The closest hospital was in Nablus: a 25 minute drive away. At Hawara, an Israeli army checkpoint within the West Bank, a soldier blocked their way. Nahil's husband, Mu'ayyad, told him, "My wife is in labour and I have to take her to hospital". Meanwhile, Nahil had started bleeding. Mu'ayyad pleaded to be let through, but the soldier didn't reply.
Mu'ayyad called an ambulance to rush to the checkpoint, but before it arrived, the birth had begun. Then just as suddenly it stopped. When the ambulance arrived, more precious time passed before it was allowed to cross to where Nahil was. Without specialist medical intervention the baby had no chance to survive and died there at the checkpoint.
Tragically, what happened to Nahil is far from unique, as Afaf Hilmiyeh's story demonstrates.
Afaf's story
In March 2007, when 20-year-old Afaf applied for access so that her child could be born in hospital in Jerusalem, she was given only a one-day permit. The baby was overdue so the permit became useless.
Afaf's grandmother, Na'ama, explains what happened next.
"We went to the checkpoint and I told the Israeli policemen that Afaf had contractions and that we urgently needed to get to hospital. The policemen refused to let us through. Afaf's contractions grew so much stronger that the officers took us out from the hall and into an empty corridor. I asked her to lie on the ground, put my purse under her head, took off her underwear, and then the baby came into the world while Afaf was screaming."
It is for families like Nahil's and Afaf's that we have launched our Appeal for Bethlehem. Like many areas in the West Bank, Bethlehem today is almost completely surrounded by the Separation Wall and people have no guarantee they will be allowed to access medical care should they need it so, through our mobile clinics, we take medical care to them.
Will you support our Appeal for Bethlehem and help us to provide a lifeline to the Palestinian people?
Anything you are able to give will help them in the most direct and practical way.
Click here to see maps highlighting access issues around Bethlehem
Click here to learn more about the work MAP is doing to help provide medical care in these villages
Click here to listen to an interview with a doctor who works in a MAP clinic
