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Across Forbidden Border, Doctors in Israel Quietly Tend to Syria's Wounded
(New York Times) Isabel Kershner - Scores of Syrian casualties from the civil war have been discreetly spirited across the frontier for what is often lifesaving treatment in Israel. Most are men in their 20s or 30s, many with gunshot wounds. But in recent weeks there have been more civilians with blast wounds, among them women and children who have arrived alone and traumatized. Israel has repeatedly declared a policy of nonintervention in the Syrian civil war, but has sanctioned this small, low-profile humanitarian response to the tragedy taking place in Syria. Like many Israeli hospitals, Western Galilee Hospital in Nahariya serves a mixed population of Jews and Arabs; its staff includes Arabic-speaking doctors, nurses and social workers. Its director general, Dr. Masad Barhoum, is an Arab Christian citizen of Israel.