Israel bans elderly Palestinian woman from treatment in Jordan

Israeli occupation authorities last week banned an elderly Palestinian woman from travelling to Jordan to receive treatment and to meet her son, who was expelled from an Israeli prison and sent to Turkey in 2011, Quds Press reported yesterday.

Zubaida Al-Awawdeh, 89, from the occupied West Bank city of Hebron, is suffering from several chronic diseases; she recently had a stroke and fell into a coma.

Her family contacted a Jordanian hospital requesting urgent treatment. She applied for and obtained a travel permit, however when she was on her way to Jordan on Thursday, the Israeli security services told her she was banned from leaving the West Bank.

Her daughter Intisar said: “My mother is motionless. She cannot serve herself and is even unable to chew her food; however, the occupation decided to ban her from travelling for treatment.”

Passport of Zubaida Al-Awawdeh, 89, from the occupied West Bank city of Hebron. Image from her son’s Facebook account, Salah Al-Awawdeh

Intisar said that her mother was due to meet her brother, Salah. “We did our best to arrange for a meeting between my mother and my brother, Salah, in Jordan during the trip for treatment.”

She said was surprised by the Israeli ban because the Palestinian Red Crescent had made the travel arrangements with the Israeli occupation and Jordanian authorities before the travel permit was applied for.

She added that the ban might be related to her brother, noting that the Israeli occupation asked her several questions about the whereabouts of her brother and whether and how he would meet her mother when they leave the Palestinian territories.

“My mother is almost 90 years old and suffers from many different diseases,” Intisar said, “she poses no danger on anyone and she is in urgent need of proper treatment abroad.”

She called for the PA and the local and international rights groups and organisations to put pressure on the Israeli occupation in order to allow her mother to access treatment in Jordan before it is too late.