- Suicide bomber Ibrahim Oude walked into the Palm Hotel
dining room, looked around, smiled and detonated a bomb so powerful it
tore cars apart on the street outside, killing 25 people and injuring over
100 more.
-
- But he didn't figure on the Vider family. Four
generations
of the clan, 13 people in all, had gathered for the pre-Passover feast.
Sivan, 20, and her fiancé Avi Beckerman, 26, were killed on the
spot.
-
- Sivan's cousin and sister were badly wounded and father,
Zeev, 49, lingered in intensive care for five days until he died on
Tuesday.
-
- Non-religious but a deeply moral man, Zeev wanted to
be an organ donor and so, when doctors said they needed a kidney to save
a Palestinian woman's life, the family did not hesitate.
-
- Zeev's son Nimrod, 25, who was in Poland at the time
of the bombing, said: "There is a choice on who to give the donation
to; we could have said no, only transplant a Jew. But to us, it was not
important whether the organs went to Arabs or Jews.
-
- "Our father always taught us that 'life is life'
and that there is no difference between us. He taught us to be on the side
of the sublime and to never judge anyone by their religion or their
race."
As the decision was made, 50 miles away in Shuafat, on the outskirts of
East Jerusalem, Palestinian Aisha abu Khadir, 54, was arriving for her
regular session of kidney dialysis.
-
- For four years, she had refused to allow members of her
family to donate one of their kidneys, fearing they would risk their own
health.
-
- Her son, Said, 23, said: "We got a call out of the
blue from the Beilinson Hospital in Petah Tikvah, for my mother to go in
straight away - so we rushed there and they gave her a new kidney on
Tuesday night.
-
- "They didn't tell me anything about this Israeli
guy. But after the success of the operation, the doctor took me aside and
said, 'I want to tell you something very important - this kidney comes
from one of the victims of the Natanya bombing.'
-
- "I was so shocked. I was really very sad because
civilians are paying the price of the fighting. But I was grateful that
my mother would not have to suffer any more."
-
- Nimrod Vider added: "I'm very proud of my father
and of what he stood for. If his donation means that someone will pause
to think for one second before the next act of terror, we will have done
our part."
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- © Associated Newspapers Ltd.
- http://www.thisislondon.com
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