Mission to Israel
Alan R. Koslow, M.D.

A man walks into a catering hall and exploded a bomb strapped to his body killing 30 and injuring 150, but more importantly changed the politics and culture of the Mideast. A mission trip to explore the feelings and politics of the Israel populace was planned months before. It was scheduled to leave two weeks after that bomb went off. A State Department advisory warned against travel to Israel and even brought back the families of diplomats there. Should the trip go on, should we go? Thirty-six of fifty-eight scheduled to go, from all corners of the United States, on this mission took the warnings and stayed safely at home. I and twenty-one others felt compelled to go despite the warnings. Each of us had different reasons for staying with the mission, but all of us agreed we were glad and we got much out of going.

I saw a need to experience history, to be a witness to history, not just a passive spectator absorbing what the international media feeds us. My experience proved this out. I found that what I saw and experienced was so totally different than that portrayed on CNN, FOX and the big three broadcast channel news. There were aspects that were much worse and some that were much better, but almost all different. Without this trip I would not have realized this and would have had a vastly different image of the conflict and not known the reality.

The Press makes it seem like all of the country is an armed camp and it is not safe to travel. I and all on the trip felt very safe and never felt at risk. You obviously need to take precautions. With which you can be very safe. This message of lack of safety is destroying the livelihood of both the Palestinians and the Israelis more than any homicide bomber ever did. The Palestinian shopkeepers I spoke with decried the bombers and want it to stop.

I spoke with over 200 Israelis and was amazed to find not one who had not been touched by death or injury of a loved one or close friend. This included a forth grade class full of students. Yet everyone we met was firm in their wish for peace with the Palestinians and that Palestine will and should have their own state.

Imagine the state of mind of parents who every day when they put their children on a bus are not sure if they will see them again. With that kind of psychic pressure wouldn't you want peace? The people we talked to are shell shocked. Shocked that Arafat turned down the Camp David deal that would have given Palestinians a state by now with control of East Jerusalem. They are shocked that children are being taught hate and strapping bombs to themselves.

I broke off from the mission and visited the Western Galilee Hospital in the northwestern corner of the nation. The hospital is within 5 kilometers of the Lebanese border and has been hit several times by mortar shells in the maternity ward. The Hospital is state run and has no private patients. It serves a region with one of the largest Palestinian populations in the country. In almost every room we went into you saw Jewish and Palestinian Israelis lying in beds next to each other. All are treated equally, Jewish law forbids anything else.

The hospital has requirements drastically different than ours. Every floor must have a bomb shelter large enough for all the patients on the floor. The shelter (see photo) must be able to withstand a mortar shell, biological and chemical agents. The shelter does not look like it would be very comfortable when full and closed up, but it looks like it would be safe. The staff does drills and can get all the patients in within 15 minutes.

Most the hospital staff are reservist in the military and, therefore, at risk of call up if a major conflict occurs leaving both the Jewish and Palestinian patients uncovered. They have set up emergency response teams of physicians to replace any physicians that are pulled from the hospital. I am organizing a team of physicians from Polk County to become an emergency response team. We currently have seven physicians considering joining this effort and are looking for more.