Who does the project help?
It provides medical equipment and supplies for the Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza, and for Misgav Ladah, an Israeli hospital for women.

Why do this?
Misgav Ladah serves a population of half Israelis and half Palestinians in Jerusalem. Ahli Arab Hospital is one of only two hospitals in Gaza serving over 800,000 people. It is in dire need of assistance to help obtain needed supplies to help the people. (See description of the two hospitals below.)

Who's doing it?
The Jewish/Palestinian Living Room Dialogue Group, San Francisco and Peninsula Palestinians and Jews who have been successfully meeting together for two years and want to help assure that the peace process succeeds.

What is the Jewish-Palestinian Dialogue Group doing?
Collecting surplus supplies and equipment from hospitals in the Bay Area and arranging for packaging and shipping the supplies to a hospital in Gaza and in Israel.

What can YOU do?
Donate your tax deductible dollars. This helps pay for the cost of packaging and shipping, and for the purchase of some items that can't be obtained by donation from hospitals and medical suppliers.

If you have any questions, please phone: Adil Jadallah, MD (650-593-7643) or Donald Stone, MD (650-3484220)

This is a difficult time in the Middle East, with tension and mistrust everywhere. The Peace Process could be in jeopardy. Dr. Adil Jadallah and I belong to a Jewish-Palestinian Living Room Dialogue Group that is undertaking a project to support the fragile Peace Process. We are collecting surplus medical equipment and supplies and raising money to help the Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza and the Misgav Ladach Hospital in Jerusalem.
     I recently visited the Middle East with an interreligious group. We went to Israel, the West Bank and Gaza, Egypt, Jordan, and Syria. The trip further convinced me of the need to do something tangible to support the Peace Process. I remained in Jerusalem for an additional two days to visit the two hospitals.
     Ahli Arab Hospital is located just off a very crowded street in the impoverished Gaza Strip. The hospital consists of a small number of white washed buildings that are very clean, but austere. There are shortages of almost everything. They can use only 80 of their 105 potential beds, because they don't have the financing to open the others. Because spare parts are hard to obtain, they were functioning without an operating X-ray unit for a period of time. Last year admissions numbered 7,500. Their budget for this year is $3 million, with revenues estimated at $1.5 million. With an income of approximately $180 per month, the average family of seven doesn't have much available to pay for medical care. My tour of the hospital with the administrator, Suhaila Tarazi, and some of her staff, convinced me that they are doing a remarkable job under very difficult circumstances.
     Misgav Ladach is a woman's hospital located in West Jerusalem serving a patient population that is approximately 50% Israeli and 50% Palestinian. Dr. Michael Stark, the medial director, told me that they have the most advanced newborn nursery in Jerusalem. The hospital was full with between 80-90 inpatients, although they were only licensed for 45 beds at the time of my visit. They had 8,000 admissions and 4,000 deliveries during the previous year. They are continuing to give state of the art care even though they are seriously under funded with a deficit of 11 million shekels ($3,750,000). Part of the reason for their precarious financial state is that many of the Palestinian patients do not have health insurance but are nonetheless accepted for treatment at a reduced fee of for free. In addition, the hospital has an agreement with a hospital in Bethlehem to take their high risk maternity patients. The staff often works for wages that are lower than those paid by other Israeli hospitals. One state of the art incubator for very small premature infants can cost up to $80,000. The hospital has a very limited support network in Europe and the United States, that is not sufficient to keep up with its needs.
     Help is urgently needed. We are trying to raise at least $6,000 to pay for packing and shipment of the $20,000 worth (wholesale value) of medical equipment and supplies - half of which were donated by Mills-Peninsula and Sequoia Hospitals - for the Ahli Arab Hospital as well as to make a cash donation to Misgav Ladach Hospital.
      Your tax deductible contribution would be greatly appreciated.