PALESTINE CHILDREN'S RELIEF FUND

Murad Jamjum

Excerpted from The San Diego Union-Tribune, Saturday, May 2, 1998
by Ed Jahn, staff writer

Murad Jamjum lives in Hebron in the West Bank. In June 1998, Murad was hit in the head with a plastic-coated steel bullet used by Israeli soldiers to quell riots. Palestinians were protesting the expansion of an Israeli settlement in Jerusalem.

Murad, who was 12 at the time, was in the shopping area where the disturbance was occurring. The bullet knocked a hole in the right side of Murad's skull, having his left arm and leg paralyzed. So Murad became one of more than 100 children from the Middle East who have been brought here by the nonprofit group during the last seven years. Dr. Sam Assam, a local surgeon, donated his time Thursday for the surgery, and Mercy Hospital provided free services.

Murad is one of 15 people injured in the shopping area that day when the soldiers fired on the crowd. Two other people were killed. Murad was first taken to a Palestinian hospital, where he was given treatment. But, because of the hospital's limited facilities, the youngster was left with a 2-inch hole in his skull that exposed his brain. Assam was able to fill the hole with a mesh that hardens over time and the cover the entire damaged area with a titanium plate.

The PCRF San Diego Chapter families took turns in hosting Murad.