Loading ...At Haifa’s hospital, Jews and Arabs work together in a fragile coexistence
By Raphaëlle Rérolle (Haifa (Israel), special correspondent)
https://archive.ph/uDtlB#selection-1777.0-2151.58
The official story seems to have been carefully cemented to avoid the cracks widening. Admittedly, the situation is not easy, say the hospital’s authorities, but it’s under control. It has to be said that the balance between the communities is priceless in this institution where, according to Avi Weissman, deputy director of the establishment, Arabs make up a third of caregivers. The figures are similar for the public health sector as a whole: 25% of doctors, 30% of nurses and 60% of pharmacists were Israeli Arabs in 2021, according to figures provided by Dr. Bishara Bisharat, president of the Arab Population Health Society in Israel. In other words, the country can’t do without these graduates, who sometimes chose this path because they couldn’t embrace other professions too closely linked to the army to be accessible to them, such as the tech industry. (Israeli Arabs are exempt from compulsory military service.)
Dr. Nizar Khatib, Israeli Arab, obstetrician at Haifa’s Rambam Hospital, in his office on November 14, 2023 in Israel.