Palestinian girl fights to receive specialised care

Agencies
Published: July 09, 2008, 00:07

Occupied Jerusalem: Paralysed from the neck down in an Israeli attack on fighters, six-year-old Palestinian Maria Ameen is fighting an order to move her from a rehabilitation centre in Israel to the occupied West Bank.

Maria can move around in a wheelchair controlled by a joystick she guides with her chin, but her Israeli doctors say her life would be in danger if Israel's Defence Ministry sends her to Ramallah.

Two years ago, Maria was paralysed from the neck down when the car she was travelling in was caught in a missile attack on a leader of Islamic Jihad in Gaza. Her mother, grandmother and older brother were killed.

The Defence Ministry, which has covered Maria's medical expenses and sponsored her father and younger brother to live with her at an occupied Jerusalem hospital, has been seeking since last year to send her to Ramallah's Abu Raya Rehabilitation Centre.

Maria's father, Hamdi, appealed against the decision, but yesterday Israel's Supreme Court put off for a third time a hearing on the case until December, when an injunction blocking her transfer to the Ramallah facility expires.

Adi Lustigman, Maria's lawyer, told the court that the Abu Raya Rehabilitation Centre lacks adequate equipment.

Medical needs

"She needs to live near the hospital, she must be near the emergency room - things she cannot have in the West Bank," Lustigman told reporters. "Maria cannot have her mother, brother or grandmother back, she cannot have her body, but there are things we can do to make things better and this is to take care of her for all of her life because she cannot survive outside Israel."

Upset at what he described as foot dragging, Maria's father said he believed the court did not want to set a precedent that would encourage other Palestinians hurt in Israeli attacks to seek long-term medical treatment in Israel.

------------------------------

Paralysed Gaza girl faces uncertain future
Katya Adler
BBC News, Jerusalem

Five-year-old Maria Amin from Gaza is putting on a brave face in the hydrotherapy pool.

Two therapists at the Alyn Children's Hospital in Jerusalem are helping her.
Maria cannot kick her legs or even feel the water she's floating in. She is permanently attached to a ventilator.


Maria was paralysed from the neck down by an Israeli rocket attack in May 2006.


The missile was aimed at a leader of the armed Islamic Jihad movement, who was killed outright.


So were Maria's mother, her grandmother and seven-year-old brother, who were driving past at the time. Maria was blown through the car window, suffering severe injuries.


Israeli law denies compensation to victims of what it calls its "acts of war", but Maria's story was taken up by local as well as foreign press.


Under pressure, Israel's Defence Ministry has been paying for her rehabilitation treatment at the specialist hospital in Jerusalem.


But now it wants to deport Maria to a Palestinian clinic in the West Bank.
Staff at the hospital in Jerusalem are helping Maria to become as independent as she can be. They are teaching her to use her mouth to work a computer.


The head of the hospital, Shirley Meyer, doesn't want to let Maria go.
"Without going into politics - that's not my role and not my business - my first priority is to make sure my patients receive the care they need," she says.

"I don't care where that is, but as far as we know, this is the only hospital in the Middle East that can look after Maria properly.
"Her case is extremely complicated. So we will not agree to discharge her until we are satisfied she will be adequately cared for elsewhere."

Israel's Supreme Court will hear Maria's case at the end of September.
If the country's Defence Ministry gets its way, Maria will be sent to the Abu Raya Rehabilitation Centre in the West Bank town of Ramallah.
In a statement, the ministry said Maria would fare better in her "natural environment".


Her father Hamdi is fighting to keep her in Jerusalem.
"It's a matter of life and death for Maria. She can only survive 50 seconds without the ventilator and there are often complications. Here they are experts. In Ramallah they are not," he says.
"Israel's air strike killed my son and my wife. All I ask is that they look after my daughter."

Legal objections

Maria's lawyer, Adi Lustigman, has several objections to the Defence Ministry's plan: Maria is Gazan and has no family in Ramallah; Abu Raya has not got the experience or equipment to deal with complications such as hers; far less severe cases are sent to the Alyn Hospital in Jerusalem.
Frequent hold-ups at checkpoints between Ramallah and Jerusalem could cost Maria her life. She would not be the first Palestinian to die that way.
Israel's Defence Ministry has offered to send staff from Abu Raya to Jerusalem for training. It says it will pay for some of Maria's medical equipment and for her father's rent in Ramallah for a year.

"But then what?" asks her lawyer. Maria's paralysis, her frequent infections and fevers, her need for new medical equipment as she gets bigger, are all ongoing.

Everyone involved in Maria's case says they have her best interests at heart but, like so much else in this conflict, the fate of this Gazan child has become highly politicised.

Maria will turn six next week. She says she just wants to lead as normal a life as possible.

"I want them to give me a home for me and my father and my little brother where I can bathe by myself, get dressed by myself and everything," she says.


"I want them to make a kitchen so I can cook for my father and my brother whatever they want.


"I would love to go to school. But first I would have to shower, get dressed and have a school bag."

Maria's father is constantly by her side. He feeds her, cleans her ventilator and brushes her hair.
He even paints her nails, although he knows she will never use her hands again.

Get Rid of this MONKEY !

english.aljazeera.net/news/am...155.html

George Bush, the US president, has called on the US congress to end its ban on offshore oil drilling and open up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska to oil exploration.

He said congressional restrictions in place since 1981 had become "outdated and counterproductive" after global oil prices rose to their highest ever levels.

"Congress must face a hard reality. Unless members are willing to accept gas prices at today's painful levels or even higher, our nation must produce more oil, and we must start now," Bush said.

Bush, speaking at the White House on Wednesday, also called for an end to the ban on oil shale drilling and for the US to build more oil refineries.


-----------------------------------

When the world is crying that the envirnoment is getting fucked over at an alarming rate, people are dying of war needlessly and that the economies of the world are in a spiral. What does the "Elected" leader of the strongest army in the world do......

Let's fuck it some more before I leave..

Hasn't Daddy Bush and all their cronies made enough money out of this on going war for oil...1 billion a day of US tax payers money, plus the cost of BLOOD. Now they want more...


Can some one please say NO !

Enough is enough...

How fucked do you need to be.. The commentator is NOT RIGHT in the head.

www.youtube.com/watch

1865 hits on my Profile - What happened in the year 1865 ?

January 1865

Tuesday 31:
American Civil War: Confederate General Robert E. Lee becomes general-in-chief.

February

Wednesday 22:
Tennessee adopts a new constitution that abolishes slavery

March

Friday 03:
The U.S. Congress authorizes formation of the Freedmen's Bureau.

Monday 13:
American Civil War: The Confederate States of America reluctantly agrees to the use of African American troops.

April

Monday 17:
Mary Surratt is arrested as a conspirator in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln.

May

Thursday 04:
Abraham Lincoln buried in Springfield, Illinois, three weeks after his assassination.

IRELAND

It was before a formal dinner in the beautiful long room of Trinity College Library, on the evening of 15 August 1835, that the Lord Lieutenant, the Earl of Mulgrave, knighted William Rowan Hamilton (1805–1865), Ireland's greatest mathematician. A spectator observed that the 'magnificent entertainment resembled the coronation festival of George IV' 1 – an event that had happened across the Irish sea fifteen years earlier.

William Butler Yeats was born (Yeats, W. B. 1865)

James Stephens was not on the premises of the ' The Irish People ' newspaper when it was raided by the British on the 15th September 1865 and escaped 'arrest' ; he was put-up in a safe-house in Sandymount , Dublin.

However , on the morning of 11th November 1865 , the British caught-up with James Stephens ; he was put in the then Richmond Jail (later to become Richmond Free State Army Barracks , then Griffith Free State Army Barracks ).

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Just some of the things that happened in 1865 -

Language class

GREETINGS
Hello---------------------------------------Jambo
Good morning--------------------------Habari za asubuhi?
Good afternoon------------------------Habari za mchana?
Good evening--------------------------Habari za jioni?
Good night------------------------------Habari za usiku?
Goodbye---------------------------------Kwa heri (one), Kwa herini (many)
What is your name?------------------Jina lako nani? Wewe nani?
My name is Michael Jordan.--------Jina langu ni Michael Jordan.

POLITENESS
Nice to meet you.----------------------Nafurahi kukuona.
How are you?---------------------------Habari gani? Uhali gani?
Good, fine-------------------------------Njema, Nzuri, Salama
Bad Mbaya
So so-------------------------------------Hivi, hivi
Thank you-------------------------------Asante
Thank you very much----------------Asante Sana
You're welcome-----------------------Karibu
Please-----------------------------------Tafadhali
Excuse me----------------------------- Samahani
So long----------------------------------Tutaonana
Yes----------------------------------------Ndiyo
No-----------------------------------------Hapana

COMMON PHRASES
I do not understand-------------------Sifahamu
How do you say this in English?--Unasemaje kwa Kiingereza?
Do you speak English?--------------Una sema Kiingereza
I can speak Swahili!-------------------Ninaweza kusema Kiswahili!
Where do you live?--------------------Unaishi wapi?
Where is Zanzibar?-------------------Zanzibar iko wapi?
How much is the fare?---------------Nauli ni kiasi gani?
One ticket to Nairobi, please.------Tikiti moja kwenda Nairobi, tafadhali.
Where are you going?----------------Unakwenda wapi?
Where is the bathroom?-------------Choo kiko wapi?
Call the police!--------------------------Ita polisi!
You are pretty.---------------------------Wewe ni mrembo.
Happy Birthday!-------------------------Furaha Ya Siku Ya Kuza Liwa!
What time is it?-------------------------Ni saa ngapi sasa?
1:45----------------------------------------saa nane kasoro robo.

SHOPPING
How much does this cost?---------Hii ni bei gani?
What is this?----------------------------Hii ni nini?
I'll buy it.----------------------------------Nitainunua.
I would like to buy some clothes.--Ninataka kununua nguo.
Do you have any bread?--------------Unayo mkate?
Do you accept credit cards?---------Naweza kutumia kadi ya benki?
I'd like a cold beer.---------------------Tafadhali nataka bia baridi.
Cheers!-----------------------------------Afya! Vifijo!
Please bring the bill-------------------Tafadhali, lete checki.


PRONOUNS
I - Mimi
Husband - Mume
We - Sisi
Daughter - Binti
You (singular) - Wewe
Son - Mwana
You (plural) - Nyinyi
Mother - Mama
They - Wao
Father Baba
Wife - Mke
Friend - Rafiki

QUANTITY
Open - Imefunguliwa, Wazi
A lot - Nyingi
Closed - Imefungwa
All - Yote
A little Kidogo

FOOD AND DRINK
Breakfast - Kifungua kinywa.
Wine - Muinyo
Lunch - Chakula cha mchana
Meat - Nyama
Dinner - Chakula cha usiku
Fruit - Tunda
Bread - Mkate
Fruits - Matunda
Water - Maji
Salad - Saladi
Ice cream - Aiskrimu

TRANSPORT
Train - Treni
Airport - Kiwanja cha ndege
Bus - Basi
Train station - stesheni ya treni

www.pbs.org/wonders/fr_cc.htm

Human Nature..

SINCE no man has a natural authority over his fellow, and force creates no right, we must conclude that conventions form the basis of all legitimate authority among men(& Women).

To say that a man gives himself gratuitously, is to say what is absurd and inconceivable; such an act is null and illegitimate, from the mere fact that he who does it is out of his mind. To say the same of a whole people is to suppose a people of madmen; and madness creates no right.

To renounce liberty is to renounce being a man, to surrender the rights of humanity and even its duties. For him who renounces everything no indemnity is possible. Such a renunciation is incompatible with man's nature; to remove all liberty from his will is to remove all morality from his acts. Finally, it is an empty and contradictory convention that sets up, on the one side, absolute authority, and, on the other, unlimited obedience. Is it not clear that we can be under no obligation to a person from whom we have the right to exact everything? Does not this condition alone, in the absence of equivalence or exchange, in itself involve the nullity of the act? For what right can my slave have against me, when all that he has belongs to me, and, his right being mine, this right of mine against myself is a phrase devoid of meaning?

THE strongest is never strong enough to be always the master, unless he transforms strength into right, and obedience into duty. Hence the right of the strongest, which, though to all seeming meant ironically, is really laid down as a fundamental principle. But are we never to have an explanation of this phrase? Force is a physical power, and I fail to see what moral effect it can have. To yield to force is an act of necessity, not of will — at the most, an act of prudence. In what sense can it be a duty?

www.constitution.org/jjr/socon.htm

Humans Piss me off .. I want to be a Klingon !!

Hab SoSlI' Quch!