IDF, settlers save Arab baby

IDF forces and local paramedics helped save the life of a Palestinian woman and her newly born infant Wednesday, at the settlement where Fogel relatives are sitting Shiva for the five Israelis brutally murdered last week.

Just as IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz arrived in Neve Tzuf to offer his condolences, a Palestinian cab raced towards the community's entrance. In it, soldiers and paramedics discovered a Palestinian woman in her 20s in advanced stages of labor and facing a life-threatening situation: The umbilical cord was wrapped around the young baby girl's neck, endangering both her and her mother.

The quick action of settler paramedics and IDF troops deployed in the area saved the mother's and baby's life, prompting great excitement and emotions at the site where residents are still mourning the brutal death of five local family members.

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"They thanked us and told us they named the girl Jude," Corporal Levin said. "I volunteered for Magen David Adom since age 15 and it's the first time I witnessed childbirth. It was an amazing feeling, to hold the girl that was just born in my arms, and to know that in this complex place we did something good."

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4043536,00.html

Nice uplifting story in the face of so much that is negative.

the soldier in the photo seems the sensitive type.

I would be interested in hearing more from the people in this settlement and what they think the future of their community should be. Neve Tzuf is located almost in the middle of the West Bank and even Israel concedes the land will have to be returned to Palestinians in the event of a peace agreement. The residents are religiously-minded ideological settlers, many of whom are from the United States.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halamish

It should also be pointed out that the activities of the settlers as a whole have been far from benign. There has been vandalism of olive trees. Additionally, the settlers have appropriated a natural spring and have prevented the Palestinians from accessing it. Apparently the spring is being used as a mikvah and the settlers believe that allowing Arabs to use the spring would despoil it for this purpose.

There is a weekly protest at the nearby Arab village which aims to enable the local residents to access the spring once more. These protests are noteworthy for the often heavy-handed tactics used by soldiers:-

http://mondoweiss.net/2010/05/israeli-soldiers-drag-beat-and-kick-israeli-woman.html

I realize you can't really know these things, but I do agree with your observation about the soldier holding the baby.

An image of what could be, perhaps, if ordinary Israelis and Palestinians could take the time to see the humanity in one another.

What does the future hold, I wonder.

A moment of optimism, perhaps, amidst the myriad of reasons for pessimism.

She should be proud of him, imo.

I think the obstacle in seeing the humanity in one another is that the extremists on both sides do what they can to ensure that both populations will remain separated from each other, as it's much easier to forment fear and hate if you see people as the other or the impersonal enemy. And sadly, there are some among both populations who would be so hardline that it wouldn't matter how much positive contact they had - if you handed them a fluffy puppy and told them it was something the other side cherished deeply, they'd rush off and drown it just to keep the rage simmering...

I am used to a bit of editorialising in Ynet articles, but the remark about the settlers being enthusiastic providers of medical services to Palestinians didn't pass the giggle test for me.

And the sharing, caring settlers stuff had the same effect on me...

I won't even bother to ask you the question I asked the above poster because I am confident the answer is no.

Way to turn a positive story into something else - didn't take long.

Sad, though.

I mean, it's not like Palestinian taxi drivers have ever been shot at checkpoints before, right? What exactly are you basing yr certainty on other than what appears to be a distaste for me thinking that there's more than one hero to this story, and one of them is actually a Palestinian?

Not sure what yr going on about. Just because a Palestinian is also considered brave doesn't make it any less of a positive story...

Just curious.

I'm also curious in a randomly curious sort of way...

....to this Palestinian woman?

When push comes to shove, it appears Palestinians know something about the "evil" settlers that you don't.

counterpointed with a photo of Hadas Fogel, beautiful indeed

By the way, how do you define "common humanity"?