BASR - OUR PATIENT'S

MUHAMMED’S CASE

As do most ordinary five year old children, Muhammed loved Mickey Mouse and football. He was a very active child, who was always on the move. His house was usually crowded. He lived in Nablus (some 40 kilometres away from Jerusalem, in Palestinian controlled territory) with his grandparents, his parents and five siblings. Together, these 10 people shared the only two bedrooms of the house: that’s what 200 odd monthly Euros could pay. It was all Muhammed’s father could provide. Things were tight in the household; however, on the 1st of February 2009, no one was around to take care of the child.

JIHAD’S CASE

JIHADS In 2005 Jihad Khaled was a regular 15 year old teenager with dreams of opening a big shop that would rescue his family from poverty. He lived in Biet Fajjar (a quartier, administratively dependant on the Bethlehem municipality, now under control of Palestinien Authorities) with his parents and his four siblings. He went to school and brought home average grades. Life drastically changed for Jihad and his family on may 17th 2005. No one in the village had been warned that the israeli army was conducting a patrol mission in the area that afternoon.

SAMIR’S CASE

Samir works as a security guard in the Bethlehem Arab Association for Rehabilitation (BASR). He is a healthy 24 year old, who constantly daydreams about his imminent marriage, hoping he can make arrangements for it to happen no later than next year. He welcomes people with a sincere smile and enjoys commenting football (soccer?). The passer-by may find it hard to believe that he was almost shot to death seven years ago in his home village, Al-Hader, south of the Palestinian controlled Bethlehem municipality. His crutches however, are a walking testimony of the incident.

MUHAMMED’S CASE

When he was just 18 years of age, Muhammed was working in Palestinian Authority as an officer of the Presidential Guard. He was living alone with his sister in the Deheisheh Refugee Camp, inside the city of Bethlehem. Most of his family remained in Gaza, the city where he was born and that he later abandoned, seeking better job prospects in the West Bank. On November 30th 2002, he and the rest of his Presidential Guard unit were sent on a mission to Al-Khader, a city not far from Bethlehem. It had been reported that there had been shootings

MAHMOUD’S CASE

In 2000, Mahmoud lived with his parents and his six siblings. His home was located in the city of Tabus, northeast of the West Bank and since 1995 under Palestinian Authority administration. He was in his last year of High School, months away from University, but dreamed about becoming a professional football player –he was at the time one of the most promising players in the city’s local team. Despite being a busy young man he still managed to help his father with the family business.