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A Catholic Palestinian from Jerusalem has recieved a kidney from a Jewish Israeli donor. Randa Aweis, a 58-year-old mother of six, went through a successful surgery and is now in recovery.
Catholic News Service reports that the organ came as the result of senseless violence. The donor, 56-year-old Yigal Yehoshua, was an Israeli man from the city of Lod. There, Yigal worked to promote tolerance and coexistence in Lod’s very mixed religious population. Yehoshua was tragically stoned to death by an Arab mob during the recent civil unrest in the region.
Interfaith unity
As Israel and Hamas came to blows in mid-May, a moment of stark contrast took place at Hadassah Medical Center. Dr. Abed Khalaileh, who is Muslim, transplanted Yehoshua’s kidney into Aweis, a Palestinian Catholic — a rare moment of interfaith unity from a region historically wracked with strife.
On May 21, as the ceasefire ended 11-days of violence, Aweis commented from her recovery bed:
“My story is one of peace, and God willing there will be peace.” She said, adding of Yehoshua, “Yigal will go straight to heaven, to a better place, and he will always be with me. Here we must all, Christians, Muslims and Jews, strive for peace. I don’t distinguish between Christian, Muslim or Jew — we are all human beings.”
CNS goes on to note that four other patients were saved by Yehoshua’s organs. One, in a similar situation, was a 17-year-old Muslim boy.
And today we celebrate...