Residents of Modiin Illit recently donated NIS 30,000 in
medical equipment to equip an ambulance owned by the
neighboring Palestinian village of Naleen.
According to Yediot Acharonot, the ambulance vehicle
was purchased by Naleen residents, but they could not afford
to pay for the equipment of the ambulance. The ambulance did
not even have a stretcher. Resident Husseini Nafar told
Yediot that they originally appealed to Palestinian
Authority sources, who were unwilling to help and just told
them to "find another donor."
They turned to Modiin Illit's head of security, Shuky
Gutterman, who is in constant contact with village residents.
The response was soon in coming as the mayor Rabbi Yaakov
Gutterman, a charity organization, and residents of the
settlement immediately took action to rectify the
situation.
A ceremony in honor of the donation was held at the Modiin
Illit fire station. A delegation from Naleen, including
village mayor Mohammed Srur, was escorted through the nearest
crossing by IDF representatives to attend.
Speaking at the event, Rabbi Gutterman emphasized that
"saving lives is important to both faiths and is mentioned
both in the Torah and the Quran. We hope that the people in
Naleen will have cause to use the ambulance for happy
occasions such as births." He also noted that about a
thousand village residents work in Modiin Illit every day. A
leader of one of the village clans criticized the separation
fence in his speech.
There is regular contact between Modiin Illit and the
neighboring village, for medical emergencies. One MDA
volunteer said paramedics are called to the entrance of the
village in order to treat people from time to time.
"Once we were called to treat a child who had been hit in the
eye with a rock. We put him on the ambulance on the village
side of the crossing, but the army wouldn't let us cross
right away. After a while, we received permission and arrived
at Tel Hashomer hospital, where the boy received
treatment."
A month and a half later, the boy's father called and invited
them to a feast in honor of the boy's recovery. They didn't
go to the feast because that would have meant entering the
village, which is not done for security reasons. But the
volunteers met with the family outside the village.
