IDF and Palestinian Medics Team Up
IDF Published on: June 19, 2013
http://www.idfblog.com/2013/06/19/idf-and-palestinian-medics-team-uup/

Yesterday, a young Palestinian man was struck by a car while riding his
donkey in the village of Huwwara, near Nablus. To save his life, IDF
paramedics and Magen David Adom – an Israeli civilian volunteer
organization – joined together with the Palestinian police and the Red
Crescent.

One of the first on the scene was IDF paramedic 2nd Lt. Shir Schlosser.

“Whenever we are called to an accident, we don’t consider whether it was an
Israeli or Palestinian man who was injured. We never discriminate between
the two,” she said. “When you’re there, you only see the injured person; you
don’t pay attention to what’s around you.”

The wounded man suffered from multiple injuries, “possibly lethal,” noted
Schlosser, “but working together, all four groups, we treated the injured
man as needed, revived him and evacuated him to an Israeli hospital.”

IDF and Palestinian medics

Everyday Cooperation

According to the paramedic, cooperation between the IDF and Palestinian
medics is quite common, with such instances occurring “at least a couple of
times a day.”

“For every accident we alert the Red Crescent and work together,” she
explained. “We always provide first aid because our treatment is often
better than [the Red Crescent’s].”

She added, “We usually try to take injured Palestinians to Nablus, where
they can understand the language and be with their families. But depending
on the severity of the accident, we might bring them into Israel.”

Cooperation between IDF and Palestinian medics is inevitable due to the
situation in Judea and Samaria.

“The population here is mixed in such a way that life is shared,” remarked
Schlosser, “and we have to work together in order to succeed.”

Medical forces treated over 1,500 patients in Judea and Samaria in 2012.
Roughly a quarter of these patients are Palestinian, most of whom were
injured in traffic or work accidents or suffered from various diseases.