West Bank heart surgeon faces possible deportation
By Wafa Amr, Reuters, 27 January 2007
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – One of the few open-heart surgeons based in the occupied West Bank said on Saturday he had been detained at Israel’s airport and faced possible deportation.
After being detained for more than a day at Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport, Israel granted Dirgham Abu Ramadan, a German cardiologist of Palestinian origin, a one-week extension on his tourist visa and allowed him to enter the country.
“They told me I was allowed in for seven days during which I would either get a work permit or I leave the country,” Abu Ramadan told Reuters.
Abu Ramadan has performed surgeries at hospitals across the occupied West Bank and in the Gaza Strip for years. He said he has 270 surgeries scheduled in the coming months.
Mazen al-Shawa, general manager of the al-Mezan Hospital in the West Bank city of Hebron, said Abu Ramadan was scheduled to perform eight procedures on Saturday alone. “This is a very grave issue. He’s the only professional surgeon in the West Bank,” al-Shawa said. [ More ]
Palestinian journalist Laila El-Haddad, who faces increasing difficulties travelling to and from North Carolina where her husband is employed, was interviewed by NPR’s Dick Gordon for his show, “The Story”. Laila describes the interview here. The show can be downloaded here.
Update: The information reported by Wafa Amr for Reuters that, “Top Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat reached a deal last month with the Israeli government to allow foreign nationals of Palestinian origin to get Israeli visas that would allow them entry to Palestinian areas,” is inaccurate according to New Profile. Read more here.