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Occupation magazine - Life under occupation

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Eyad is gone!
By Ali Dahmash -
IMEMC
May 21, 2010

http://www.imemc.org/article/58736

Iyad Sami Zindah, 5 yr old, died today of cancer after Israeli occupation forces prevented him from leaving Gaza to get treatment in Palestine

My story with Eyad started last December, 7 months ago. I received a message from a friend that there is a family in Amman from Gaza who are treating their kid`s cancer and they need help. I called the parents and met them a few days later. And that is where my story began with Eyad.

To set things straight Eyad was 5 years old, had had lung cancer for 4 years. The Palestinian Authority (Hamas) treated him at their expense in Egypt since Gaza is still under siege and such cancer treatments do not exist there. The doctors in Egypt operated on Eyad and according to his parents they did a very bad job and it wasn’t successful. Then the Palestinian Authority sent him to Iran for more operations. Again, his parents said they were not done the proper way. Israel let him to get some treatments and do tests in Jerusalem but it was very expensive since the Palestinian Authority will not pay for expenses inside Israel. Also Israel will not let Eyad and his parents spend the night in Jerusalem, so they had to go every day back to Gaza through the nightmare of the checkpoints.

Then the Palestinian Authority (Hamas) sent him to Jordan to get some Chemotherapy, where I met him in Amman many times. The father had to sell his taxi cab in Gaza to be able to provide for his family while they were in Amman. After 6 months the doctors in Jordan said that his case is not improving and Hamas stopped funding. After trying in vain to get him into the King Hussien Cancer Center and the bureaucracy of who will treat him and sponsor him financially they returned to Gaza. Though Eyad looked fine, he had a new cancer lump growing near his heart and causing him respiratory problems. So I was able to gather your donations and send them to Gaza to buy him 2 Oxygen tanks. I tried with PCRF and a Doctor in Hadassa in Jerusalem to let him in but that failed too. The Palestinian Authority (Hamas) stopped sponsoring Eyad and they were left alone in a besieged Gaza!

Two weeks ago I spoke with his parents and they told me they will try to get him out to Saudi Arabia to try alternative medicine. Eyad hasn’t been eating well for a month, lost a lot of weight and was having breathing problems. The authorization to leave the Gaza strip takes 5 weeks!

I need to make clear that Hamas stopped sponsoring Eyad financially 6 months ago and the family tried many times with the government but according to them the corruption of the Palestinian Authority (Hamas) in Gaza is the same as the one in the West Bank (Fatah)!!

I have to thank the kind people who helped from America, Europe, Egypt, UAE and Jordan!

I really have no words to explain how I feel right now, I guess I’m not used to such losses! I will not blame Israel or Hamas or the corruption of power in the Middle East.

The only thing I can do now is to continue supporting his family after his death! His mom told me that he had wanted to visit Amman very badly and wanted to go to the Kids` area at Mecca Mall and see the Town Mall and to come see Ali, his simple wish was never granted to him.

His mom told me ”Eyad is the Martyr of the Siege!”

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