A SURGEON UNDER ISRAELI OCCUPATION
A personal narrative of often-dramatic, dangerous and sometimes funny events in the life of a Palestinian surgeon.
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A Pacemaker is not Viagra
In this period, I had no office in which to examine or treat patients. People used to come to my house frequently, usually early in the morning “to catch me before I left for the hospital.” Sometimes they caught me well before I left for the hospital. One day at around three o’clock in the morning, my family and I woke to the sound of repeated rings of the doorbell. I opened the door and found an elderly man waiting for me. He was short and wore a Hawaiian shirt. Given the somewhat unusual garb, I assumed he was a Palestinian-American. “I want to discuss something very important,” he said with a hesitant voice. I let him in, showed him to the kitchen and asked my wife to make us some coffee. “No coffee, doctor,” he shook his head and he continued speaking in a very low voice as we sat around the table. “I want you to give me a pacemaker like the one you gave the mukhtar,” he said, referring to Yaacob Zahran, whose pacemaker I had implanted some time before. “My young cousin, whom I married a few months ago, is not happy with me and I do not blame her. Frankly, I am also not happy with myself. I am ready to take care of all expenses regardless of how much it costs. Please let us make an appointment for placing the battery.” Men and women in Palestine often refer to their spouses as “cousin.” Marriages among actual cousins were not uncommon, as it is a way of preserving property within the same extended family. I tried to explain to him that the “battery” we placed for the mukhtar was for his heart and not for anything else. I told this man, as gently as I could, that his heart did not need a battery. I spent a long time explaining his condition and what remedies he had available. We were still at my kitchen table when my children awoke, and we heard them preparing to leave for another day at school. I then invited my visitor for breakfast, which he politely declined. He understood that it was time for him to leave. We walked together to the door, and I reassured him, handing him a bottle of multivitamins. I told him that if he stopped smoking and took the vitamins, he and his wife should be very happy. He departed cheered up and promised to stop smoking.
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About the Book
Palestinians, wherever they travel or reside, and whenever they talk or write about anything, always center their discussion on the Palestinian issue. It is an intrinsic part of their existence. In A Surgeon under Israeli Occupation, author Dr. Shawki Harb chronicles his experiences about life, Palestine, and medicine that he’s witnessed throughout fifty years of a surgical practice.
He offers a narrative of the life of a Palestinian surgeon who practiced medicine under Israeli occupation for more than a quarter of a century from 1975 to 2003. Harb also covers events that took place during his medical school and internship years in Germany from 1958 to 1967 and subsequent specialty training in the United States from 1967 to 1975. This memoir tells how he lived calmly and purposefully under Israeli military occupation, enduring harassment and overcoming challenges like having to perform heart surgery under the flickering light of flashlights during blackouts and the sound of gunfire.
Giving a long-term perspective A Surgeon under Israeli Occupation shares unique insights into the nature of the conflict, providing stories of unusual medical events and personal experiences while reflecting on the social and political context in which they happened.
About the Author
Shawki Harb is a retired surgeon. Born in Ramallah, Palestine, he has worked as a general as well as a thoracic and cardiovascular surgeon at some of the most advanced centers in the world. He taught at Al-Quds Medical School in Jerusalem and is fellow of the American College of Surgeons and the American College of Cardiology. Harb, father of four and grandfather of seven, lives with his wife between Palestine and the United States.