This week I wrote about my eldest son, David, acting as steward for Christians and others, parading through Jerusalem.

That same night, Adina, 2 years his junior, came home at the end of a course with Magen David Adom (MDA), the Israeli ambulance service. She has just been approved as a volunteer and she is thrilled.

Adina loves helping people. She relates that almost the first item they learnt on the course was that they must, by law, give aid to anyone, regardless of race, religion or colour. If you were to go into any Israeli hospital ward, you will find openly, peoples of all religions on both sides of the treatment areas. It is not just law, but a natural way of life for the country.

Our family knows several adults who volunteer for ambulance duty with the MDA. They tell us with some regret how their roles are now limited when they are called to go to Arab villages. The violence in recent years has forced them to wait for an army escort, before they can cary out their job. In fact last month, for the first time in years, an ambulance was able to enter Ramallah, the Palestinian Authority’s centre, in order to save a 6 month old baby. 

Gaza too benefits from this dedication. Since January 2006, there have been at least 20 occasions, where Palestinians have used medical stories as a cover to launch terror attacks. In 2006, 4,932 Palestinian patients received special treatment in Israel. That figure will double by the end of this year.

I guess true peace will be obtained not just when Gaza has better medical facacilities, but that these are available to those of a different background and religious history.