EDITOR'S NOTEBOOK

Strength Amid Tears

Afula's Emekim Mall was the fifth Israeli target of a suicide
he doctor suddenly turned into a patient when he
bomber
over the period of May 17 to 19. The death toll of at
became a victim of Palestinian terror Monday in
least
12
scuttled a much-anticipated Washington summit
Israel's Central Galilee, Detroit Jewry's Partnership
with
President
Bush when Ariel Sharon, Israel's beleaguered
2000 region. The three-day bombing spree that
prime minister, pulled out even though going would have
changed his life was intended to cloud any hopes for peace.
sent a more powerful message to the terrorists.
Dr. Shmuel Yurfost suffered severe eye injuries when a 19-
With weeks of relative calm, Israelis in this lightly populat-
year-old suicide bomber — yet another teenager brainwashed
ed
region of northeast Israel — a common stopover for visit-
to die a "martyr" for Jew-haters trying to conquer Israel —
ing Detroiters — had hoped the worst was over.
set off explosives in a hand-held bag outside an Afula shop-
Then Islamic Jihad and the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, a
ping mall. It was 5 p.m., the height of the shopping day.
faction
of Arafat's Fatah movement, brainwashed Heba
The shrapnel-laden bomb killed three Israelis, including
Daraghmeh
from the West Bank village of Tubas. The well-
Kiril Sheremenko, a 23-year-old security
dressed woman exploded an 11-pound bomb in the plastic
guard in the first hour of a new job. At least
bag she presented at a guarded checkpoint at Emekim Mall.
70 were hurt in the blast, including
Dr. Koppleman learned of his surgical partner's wounds as
Sheremenko's partner on patrol, 20-year-old
he
operated on the young security guard, Hadar Gitlin, who
Hadar Gitlin, who chose the risky work to
had helped block the bomber's way. For 11 hours, Dr. Kop-
help stem the rising tide of terrorism.
pleman, showing typical Israeli resolve, "struggled to mend
On Wednesday, both Dr. Yurfost and
her broken body, working through the tears for her, Dr.
Hadar Gitlin lay gravely injured at HaEmek
Yurfost
and our people," Rich related in a moving e-mail
Medical Center in Migdal HaEmek, part of
message.
ROBERT A, Partnership 2000 through which Detroiters
SKLAR
and Central Galileans are building business,
A Family's Anguish
Editor
educational and cultural ties.
Monday was Gitlin's second day at work after losing the same
"When I first heard the news that there
job
three days earlier when she didn't identify a potential
had been a bombing at the Afula mall, my most immediate
bomber as a suspect in a drill. She was on duty when
image was of the emergency room at HaEmek
the real bomber struck only because she agreed to
Medical Center, which I had visited in January" said
stay on for a co-worker who didn't show up.
David Gad-Harf, executive director of the Jewish
As irony would have it, the same day she was
Community Council of Metropolitan Detroit. "I
nearly
killed, the Labor Party proposed a law to give
knew that everyone there would be mobilized to try
security
guards killed or maimed by terrorism the
to save and heal the victims."
same
rights
as soldiers. It's a deserving bill. Guards
Life's cruel twists turned Shmuel Yurfost, who
typically
are
an eclectic mix of newly discharged sol-
made aliyah from Bolivia in 1964, from doctor to
diers
and
job-hunting
students.
patient.
Gitlin's parents were frantic Monday after hearing a
Just hours before, he and Dr. Doron Koppleman Hadar Gitlin
radio report about a dead security guard in Afula. Two
had met to plan the next day's surgeries. The two
hours
after the bombing, they learned their daughter,
have worked together since the start of the
one
of
three
children,
was alive when Dr. Koppleman spoke
Palestinian fury 31 months ago and have seen a cross-sec-
with
them
in
a
HaEmek
waiting room.
tion of the victims. Terrorism has taken more than 780
Sarah
Gitlin
seemed
to
know "exactly what questions to
Israeli and foreign lives.
ask
and
she
focused
on
the
most critical aspects of her daugh-
"Passing below their skilled hands on the operating tables
ter's health," Rich said. "The Gitlins trusted and believed in
have been innocent Jews and Arabs — women, children,
the gray-haired surgeon with warm, sympathetic eyes."
men, soldiers, the elderly, even some terrorists," said Larry
At 5 the next morning, Dr. Koppleman, tired but his com-
Rich, development director at the hospital, about nine miles
passion
strong, comforted the Gitlins.
.
from Afula.
Rich
recounted
how Sarah, when the doctor wondered
"Beneath the sterile sheets, all humanity is equal," Rich
how
she
knew
what
to ask, didn't waver in responding: "In
said. "Our surgeons' mission in life is to heal."
1995, Hadar's older sister, Mor, was critically wounded in the
devastating double terrorist [bus station] bombing at the Beit
A Smile, Then Tragedy
Lid intersection.
"You see, doctor, I've been here before."
Shortly past noon Monday, the two doctors "parted with a
The horror of the past week that enveloped Shmuel
handshake, a smile and an Israeli nod of the head," Rich said.
Yurfost, Hadar Gitlin and so many other innocent people
Dr. Yurfost, a s6ft-spoken healer with a wife and three chil-
reinforces why Palestinians who want statehood must dis-
dren, returned to the hospital he knew so well less than six
arm the terrorists and rally behind credible leaders before
hours later, cloaked in his own blood.
Israel eases its military might. Meanwhile, it's incumbent
"Nobody at first even recognized him," Rich said. "Only
on Arab moderates from Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Jordan
when he spoke and asked about his eyes did the horrible real-
to rev up the sputtering peace process by condemning ter-
ity become apparent: Our beloved surgeon lost one eye and
ror, building alliances with sensible Palestinians and
the fate of his other eye is in question."
respecting U.S. intervention.
Unless the Palestinian Authority's new prime minister,
Let there be no doubt: Israel is under no obligation to
Mahmoud Abbas, once a hate-monger, can show he can
consider Yasser Arafat, imprisoned in his battered
somewhat control the terrorists who have forced Israel to
Ramallah headquarters, even a bit player at peace talks
defend itself, he'll dangle aimlessly as a puppet of Yasser
when he and his ilk are really a stain on the civilized
Arafat, the P.A.'s ruthless president bent on destroying Israel
world. 111
before it destroys him.

T

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5/23
2003

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