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08.06.01, 05:00
Arab Organ Donor Gives Hope
by Jonathan Goddard - June 6
Amid a fragile ceasefire, an extraordinary gesture of goodwill from the family
of a murdered Palestinian gives hope that the spirit of co-operation between
Israelis and Arabs is not dead.
Mazen Djoulani, a 33-year-old pharmacist from East Jerusalem, died at the
weekend. His family believe he shot by Jewish settlers but Israeli police
assert he was killed in a dispute with other Palestinians.
Whatever the case, the Djoulani family has agreed to donate Mazen's organs to
help save the lives of others, whether they are Jews or Muslims, and his heart
has already saved the life of a dying Israeli.
Mazen’s father said: "Islam does not forbid donating organs to save another's
life. So, I donated organs to save the lives of others, no matter if they were
Jews, Christians or Muslims, even though my son was killed by a Jewish
settler's bullet."
Yigal Cohen would have died if it had not been for the transplant. His father
said: “It’s really touching, especially in these days when relations are so
tense. This noble family comes and teaches us that it is possible to do things
in a different way.”
Three other Jews and one Arab are slated to receive organs from Mazen in the
next few days. Tamar Ashkenazi, the national organ transplant co-ordinator,
said it was the first organ donation from a Palestinian to Israelis since peace
efforts collapsed.
Dr Yaacov Lavie, the heart specialist who carried out the Cohen transplant at
Tel Hashomer Hospital near Tel Aviv, said he had, during the operation, held
Mazen’s heart in one hand and the Israeli’s in the other. He condemned the
recent violence as “completely unnecessary” and said he believed that Jews and
Arabs were “exactly the same”.
The surgeon added that the parents of one of the teenagers massacred in last
week’s Tel Aviv disco bombing had also agreed to donate their child’s organs.
