Israeli bullet took my eye, but I just want peace

A Palestinian youth declared dead after an Israeli bullet ripped through his head is to get a replacement eye in Dubai.

A mosque declared 16-year-old Bahaa Salim had been killed along with his brother in the gun and grenade attack on his home.

However, when his grieving mother arrived at the hospital she discovered that Bahaa was still alive, while his brother had died.

But Bahaa was horrifically injured. A bullet had smashed into Bahaa’s cheek, flew under his nose and blew out his eyeball on the other side of his face.

“I forgive the Israelis. I want peace and I want jobs for the West Bank. I don’t want bloodshed,” he told 7DAYS yesterday from the home of Ali and Salwa Dejani, a volunteer host family who live in Jumeirah.

Doctors at Moorfiends Eye Hospital in Dubai have given their services for free to the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund (PCRF) in the hope of fitting Bahaa with an artificial eye.

However, the doctors discovered this week that the structure of his eye socket is so badly damaged that they need help.

The PCRF is now searching for a specialist surgeon who can pare back the bone around Bahaa’s eye so that an artificial eye can be fitted.

Bahaa’s ordeal began when the electricity went out in his home one day in 2004 during an Israeli raid on Nablus in the West Bank.

When the two brothers went out to their balcony to find out why the electricity had been cut off the Israelis opened fire on Bahaa and fired a grenade at his brother.

In the mass confusion of arrests, deaths and injuries, his mother heard on a mosque loudspeaker the next day that her only two sons had been killed in the attacks.

“My mother was overjoyed to find I was alive,” Bahaa said.

The PCRF has now appealed to other families to host Palestinian youths who need medical treatment.

“Previously, they have been kept in hotels. But we have teenage boys here and he can talk and mix with them.

“We’re all hoping the operation is going to work out,” said Salwa.

If you would like to host a Palestinian youth, email dubai@pcrf.net