RAMALLAH - December 2011
"At Hadassah Hospital cancer patients from Palestine and Israel still treat each other with humanity and respect, despite all of their differences." These words were written, not by Hadassah's PR team… but by Kamell Husseini - a Palestinian writer, founder and manager of the first communications and public relations firm in Palestine. Husseini, who is also a member of the World Economic Youth Forum, praises Hadassah Hospital in his Op-Ed piece published today in Yedioth Ahronoth, Israel's #1 Hebrew language daily.
"In my opinion, there is only one hope to cure the situation in Jerusalem: that Israeli Cabinet Ministers and indeed the entire Israeli society … will go to visit Hadassah hospital in Jerusalem. There, Palestinian and Israeli cancer patients relate to each other in a human way and respect each other in spite of the differences and conflicts between them" said Kamell Husseini, who has been taking his mother to Hadassah for cancer treatment over the past 12 years..
"At Hadassah, it doesn't matter who you are; they encourage you to fight the disease and other dangers that are much more important than all our wars. There, in the treatment rooms, Israeli Jews and Palestinian Arabs unite in searching for a cure, in praying to their god. They all rise above the conflict and hate and become humans. I never felt discriminated against in my dealings with the Jewish doctors and nurses," he said.
"This powerful opinion piece in Yedioth Ahronoth underscores how vital Hadassah Hospital is at a local and international level, not only for its excellence in medical care and ground-breaking research, but also for the balanced image of Israel it promotes, transcending politics, religion and national boundaries," said Ron Finkel, President of Hadassah Australia. "This is why Hadassah was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2005."
In 2012, as Hadassah celebrates its global centenary and its 10th anniversary in Australia, there is hope that the "Hadassah Model" will have a positive impact in both Israel and the Palestinian Territories.
Yedioth Ahronoth article