Head Surgery in the Shuk

I had the interesting opportunity to wake up at the crack on Saturday to head out to the ancient city of Hebron with a couple of journalists who were invited to see the Physicians for Human Rights (an Israeli NGO organisation) perform their medical clinics for Palestinian patients who do not receive any medical treatment. Approximately 20 volunteer Israeli and Israeli Arab doctors set up a make shift treatment centre after the medicines were carted into rooms within the Old City while hundreds of people waiting there to receive medicines and consultation.

A quick tour of the Old City showed how sections had been blocked off due to tensions and clashes between Palestinians living in the area and a group of Jewish settlers who live dispersed around the area. Locals were saying that 10 years ago, the Old City was threiving while today no tourists or business was noticable while half the shops were also closed.

However, we were hosted to some cafne (rich, sweet, cheese desert and tea) while the shopkeeper tried to dress me up as a shephard.

(I did not have the stomach to try the two shekel falafel.)

Following that a small crowd swelled (pun intended) next to a stall in the Shuk (market) and the talk of the town was a surgery. Doctors started performing a minor surgery on a patient's head to remove a growth right in the middle of a stall selling cleaning products, the man lying on a simple matress was sedated while the journalists enjoyted this photo opportunity and bystanders enjoyed the gore factor. A surreal scene to see and encounter (see picture below)

A Panaromic view of Hebron from a rooftop in the Old City