Rights group complains that “Israeli” officer blocked an ambulance

Source: AFP, 16-8-2007
JERUSALEM (AL-QUDS) - A rights group on Thursday filed a complaint against an "Israeli" officer for allegedly not allowing an ambulance to enter from the West Bank with a critically injured Palestinian who later died.
Physicians for Human Rights said in a statement that it had asked police to open a criminal inquiry against Dalia Basa, a medical coordinator with the "Israeli" military administration in the occupied West Bank.
It said that on June 29 Basa had refused to allow an "Israeli" ambulance to enter "Israel" carrying 18-year-old Radi Alwahash, who had suffered critical head injuries in a traffic accident in Bethlehem.
Basa demanded that the ambulance stop at the checkpoint between the occupied West Bank and "Israel" and that "an ambulance from the Palestinian Red Crescent take the patient to a hospital in the West Bank instead," it said.
She made the demand despite three medical teams who had arrived at the scene of the accident -- an "Israeli" military ambulance, an "Israeli" civilian ambulance and a Palestinian ambulance -- jointly deciding that the patient should be treated at a west Jerusalem hospital.
"The result was that Radi Alwahash died in the ambulance... while waiting to get into "Israel" for treatment," it said.
"The protocol for treating residents (of the West Bank)... who reach the checkpoint stipulates that in emergency cases, patients will be allowed to pass the checkpoint even if they do not have a permit to enter "Israel"," it said.
A spokesman for the military administration in the West Bank called the accusations against Basa baseless.
"Dalia Basa was not in any way involved in the evacuation procedure (of Alwahash) and statements supporting otherwise are lies," Tzidki Maman told AFP.