Two recent stories from The Times (UK) and Der Spiegel provide a few rays of hope in an otherwise stormy situation.
In Hamas-Israel: a tiny ray of hope, Times reporter David Byers tells how "the rescue of one, dying, Palestinian baby . . . last week threw a ray of light on a little-known humanitarian agreement between Israel and Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry, at a time when they are locked in a state of conflict."
And in Palestinian Twins Under Rocket Fire from Gaza, Der Spiegel reporter Christoph Schult tells how "When a Palestinian woman gave birth to twins in an Israeli hospital she experienced what it is like to be the target of rocket fire from the Gaza Strip."
Meanwhile, Ha'aretz reports on "the Facebook of peace" -- mepeace.org -- a social networking website that brings together Israelis, Palestinians, and others.
A rare border exchange has taken place between Israel and Hamas to save the life of a desperately ill Palestinian baby
The Times (UK) reporter witnessed "a delicate operation, . . . [in which] eight-day-old Mohammed Amin El-Taian was carried across no man's land on a stretcher at midday by a doctor from the Gazan ministry of health and handed to his counterpart from Magen David Adom (MDA), the Israeli equivalent of the Red Cross. Mohammed - crippled by a chest infection, and heart and gastric problems - was then transferred along with his mother to the Dana specialist children's hospital in Tel Aviv, where he was to get the emergency treatment needed to save his life. If he had been left at the under-resourced Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, where he was born, Mohammed's chances of survival would have been extremely slim."
Only days before, the border crossing had been the scene of Hamas snipers firing on Israeli soldiers in Israel. The transfer was "part of a little-known humanitarian deal between health officials of the two enemies, in which a small number of the neediest patients in Gaza given emergency treatment in Israel's more advanced hospitals."
"Nobody talks about it, people only ever talk about the violence," he [Yonni Yogadovsky, of the Israeli MDA] says. "But this is an established procedure and people from the hospitals [in Gaza] and Hamas know about it.
"We are neighbours and it happens that we don't like each other very much. But when it comes to emergencies that save human lives, this is beyond political disputes."
When a Palestinian woman gave birth to twins in an Israeli hospital she experienced what it is like to be the target of rocket fire from the Gaza Strip.
Having only one child, a daughter, and desperate for more, a Gazan couple resorted to fertility treatments. "Iman Shafii finally became pregnant. During an ultrasound examination, doctors discovered four small embryos. The first died in the fifth month of pregnancy and the second died a few weeks later. Shafii was admitted to the Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, but the condition of the two remaining embryos became increasingly fragile. 'You have to go to Israel,' the doctor told her."
Within 24 hours, Shafii was wheeled across the border and taken to The Barzilai Medical Center (English link) in Ashkelon. "She reached the Barzilai Hospital in Ashkelon just in time. She gave birth on Feb. 25, by Caesarean section, to a girl, Bayan, and to the couple's long-awaited son, Faisal."
In more ways than one, being cared for in an Israeli medical center, one that has been hit by Palestinian rocket fire from Gaza, has been a life-changing experience. Iman Shafii's
only impression of Israel has been the one she gets on Palestinian television, which usually shows tanks and soldiers, and celebrates attacks, like the recent shooting inside a Talmud school in Jerusalem, as acts of heroism. In the past, Shafii saw the Israelis exclusively as perpetrators, but in Ashkelon she is encountering, for the first time, victims of the acts of terror committed by her own people. One of them is nine-year-old Yossi, who is sitting in a wheelchair. A steel frame holds his left shoulder together. It was fractured by shrapnel from a rocket that landed in the city of Sderot. "The people in Sderot are suffering just as we are in Gaza," she says.
Meanwhile, her husband
describes how young, masked men repeatedly set up their rocket launchers under the cover of houses in Beit Lahia. "They shoot at Israeli civilians, which is completely unacceptable," says Shafii. "And they put us Palestinian civilians in grave danger, because the Israelis shoot back." Why doesn't he object? "They are armed," says Shafii, "and they shoot at anyone who gets in their way."
The father is holding the first photos of his newborn twins in his hands. He is worried about the rockets being fired at Ashkelon. He says that he would never have believed it possible that he could be indebted to the Israelis for anything. "What a confusing situation," he says.
U.S. immigrant builds bridges with the 'Facebook of peace'
At some point, every member of the networking website Facebook is invited to join noble campaigns such as "Save Darfur!," promote causes such as gay rights, support Barack Obama's presidential bid, or join a "save water, drink beer" group. Virtual activism is on the rise thanks to Facebook and other social networks, but in many cases it is not more than another bland item on the profile page.
The founder of Mepeace.org, a Web site that connects Israelis, Palestinians and people from other parts of the planet, believes that independent social networks are still relevant. A former yeshiva student, Eyal Raviv says he has gone through a long process of secularization and devoting himself to promote peace.
Once again, the link is here.