Old Hatred, Young Victims Woman Forced To Give Birth In Field, Then Loses Baby, After She’s Blocked At Israeli Checkpoint

When soldiers at an Israeli checkpoint refused to let Fayza Abu Dahouk, a 22-year-old Bedouin, into Jerusalem to reach a hospital, she took matters into her own hands.

She asked her brother-in-law to stop the car, chose a deserted field nearby and, stifling her cries, gave birth to a six-week premature boy. She cut the umbilical cord with a knife, and tied it with thread.

Then she wrapped the newborn in a sheet and set off on foot through hills and back roads, skirting Israeli troops enforcing a closure imposed on the Palestinian West Bank and Gaza Strip since Feb. 25 to stop a series of suicide bombings.

Almost five hours later, she reached Jerusalem and flagged down a cab that took her to the Augusta Victoria Hospital on the Mount of Olives.

Despite her heroic efforts, the baby died 36 hours later.

He was buried Monday on a hilltop cemetery near a mosque overlooking the Abu Dahouk home just outside Jerusalem - two large tents with goats and chickens roaming in the open space between them.

Doctors believe the delay in getting the baby to the hospital Friday contributed to his death. His underdeveloped lungs did not function properly, and he should have been put on a respirator immediately at birth, said Dr. Mahmoud Sarahneh, a pediatrician at the hospital.

Many hospitals in the West Bank lack the advanced facilities of hospitals inside Israel. The Israeli human rights group B’Tselem says at least eight Palestinians have died since the closure began because they were prevented access to medical treatment in Israel.

The dead include a 1-month-old boy who died after his ambulance was delayed at an Israeli roadblock, and another premature baby born at a roadblock whose doctor said he might have survived if soldiers had let his mother get to a hospital in time.

The closure was imposed in response to a series of suicide bombings by Islamic militants that killed 58 victims in Israel in February and March. Israel’s government has said it will continue until the threat of attacks has abated.

Shlomo Dror, spokesman for the Israeli liaison office with the Palestinians, said he did not know the circumstances surrounding the baby’s death or Abu Dahouk’s encounter with soldiers at the Jerusalem checkpoint.

However, he said, she could have gone to a hospital in the West Bank town of Ramallah - just 15 minutes by car from Jerusalem - without any problem. That hospital also has respirators.

“We cannot open every checkpoint when a lady comes and says she’s pregnant and wants to go to hospital,” Dror said. “We can’t put a doctor at every checkpoint.”