Israel Relents On Little Girl Struck Down By War

Taken from The Sunday Times, UK, August 5, 2007
By Uzi Mahnaimi

A Palestinian girl paralysed from the neck down when an Israeli missile struck her family’s car has won a court victory over the Israeli army.

Marya Aman, 5, whose plight moved Sunday Times readers to donate £17,000 ($34,000) earlier this year, has been granted the temporary right to remain in Israel to receive life-saving treatment for her injuries.

An interim injunction issued by the Israeli High Court last week blocked plans by Ehud Barak, the Israeli defence minister, to move Marya to the West Bank, depriving her of specialised medical care available only in Israel.

In a letter to Hamdi, Marya’s father, the Israeli defence ministry refused to grant them residency status and demanded that Marya be moved for treatment to Ramallah in the West Bank, far from her family in Gaza.

The next stage of Marya’s battle to stay in Israel will be fought before three High Court judges next month. “I am delighted by the court’s decision,” said Hamdi, 29. “I hope that in the next court session the judges will treat Marya like their own daughter and will take care of her for the rest of her life.”

As Hamdi spoke, Marya giggled from her hospital bed, talking with her friends and oblivious to her victory over the Israeli defence establishment.

She knows nothing of the ministry’s bid to move her out of Israeli care to the West Bank, where medical standards are far lower. She also believes that she will recover – a dream that doctors say will never be fulfilled.

She was paralysed from the neck down by an Israeli missile in Gaza more than a year ago. She had been singing a song and dancing in the white Mitsubishi saloon carrying eight members of her family when it was caught in a missile blast which struck a nearby vehicle driven by militants. She lost her mother, older brother and grandmother while her little brother, uncle and father were all wounded.

Marya’s spine was fractured and both her lungs were punctured. As a result she is now confined to a motorised wheelchair that she operates with a mouth stick.

Her story, first published in The Sunday Times in February, prompted a wave of donations that were sent to her in Jerusalem and will be used for a specially adapted car to allow her to escape her hospital bed. “She will need it for the rest of her life.

I want to thank all the generous readers who have donated money, from the bottom of my heart,” said Hamdi.

Marya also thanked the “good people who are helping me”. Talking over the phone, she said: “I will also buy some presents for my little brother Muaman.”

Marya is in the respiratory ward of Alyn hospital in Jerusalem, the only such facility in the Middle East and essential to her survival. “My life is over,” said Hamdi, who helps to nurse her.

“I’m here for my daughter. To move her to the West Bank, as the defence minister wants, would be a death sentence for her. I checked in Ramallah. There isn’t and there never will be suitable equipment there to keep her alive.”

The hospital has become a de facto prison for Marya, her father and three-year-old Muaman.
Hamdi is confined to the hospital as he takes daily care of Marya, feeding and bathing her and changing her bags and drips. As a Gaza citizen without an Israeli residence permit, he cannot rent a flat near the hospital and is reluctant to leave the premises for fear of deportation.

Muaman was badly traumatised by the missile attack and needs psychiatric treatment. His father cannot afford this and meanwhile he is being comforted by his paralysed sister.

Having received a laptop, Marya spends much of her time operating it with her chin. “I like the computer very much,” she said cheerfully. Marya is studying so she can keep up with her classmates, who she thinks she will soon rejoin at school. She has already mastered Hebrew.

A school was found for her in Jerusalem but she cannot attend it as she and her family have no right to stay. “I only ask the Israelis to treat Marya as they would treat an injured Israeli child. I’m not asking for compensation for what happened,” said Hamdi.

Marya will need £10,000 ($20,000) a month for the rest of her life to provide for round-the-clock nursing, accommodation, a special wheelchair and a customised car. The Israeli government refuses to provide it, agreeing to pay - “as a gesture of goodwill” - only £300 ($600) a month rent for one year.

“She thinks she will recover,” Hamdi said sadly. “We haven’t told her the truth, that she will be confined to her life-support machine for ever.”

Readers wishing to help should send a cheque made out to Marya Aman to: Foreign Desk, The Sunday Times, 1 Pennington Street, London E98 1ST. We will ensure the money reaches her bank account safely