American "Angels" Fix Palestinian Hearts

By IBRAHIM BARZAK

Associated Press Writer

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) A trio of Americans are braving the dangers of the Gaza Strip to bring life and hope to sick Palestinians.

Dr. Imad Tabry, a Palestinian-American cardiac surgeon, and theater nurses Mari Noel Weatherly and Rebekah Trittiope arrived in Gaza City last weekend for a 10-day stint performing heart surgery at the Shifa hospital. The team is treating mainly children, but also people too sick to travel elsewhere for treatment or locked into the Gaza Strip by Israeli travel restrictions.

Tabry, whose parents fled with him to Lebanon and then to the United States when Israel was founded in 1948, said this is his fifth working visit to Gaza since the September 2000 outbreak of a Palestinian uprising. The violence has claimed the lives of 2,559 Palestinians and 898 Israelis.

"There are about 20 to 24 heart operations planned while we are here," said Tabry, who lives in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. "We are doing about two cases a day."

The medical mission is sponsored by the Palestine Children's Relief Fund, a charity based in Kent, Ohio, seeking to improve the quality of medical care in Gaza, the West Bank and elsewhere in the Middle East.

Abdel Mohsen Amar, 58, said the team's work on his coronary artery has given him a new lease on life.

"They are angels," he said. "Marie-Noelle spent two nights at my bedside taking care of me ... Dr. Tabry told me that I will fine within two months and I can have a normal life with my family."

The fund's Gaza project manager, Suhail Flafeil, said that apart from sending skilled medical personnel, the organization has also trained Palestinian surgeons and backup staff and brings sick and injured Palestinian children for free treatment in the United States, and the world.

Trittipoe, a Lynchburg, Virginia, resident who operates the heart-lung machine during surgery, said she was apprehensive about coming to Gaza, where a large proportion of the uprising's casualties have occurred. In October, militants blew up an American diplomatic convoy, killing three security guards.

"Lots of people told me I was crazy to come ... but I was committed," she said. "I believe very strongly that God is the protector, so he will take care of me."