Ayin was 5-year-old when she was struck by a truck and very seriously injured as she made her way from a play area to her Dir el-Balach home in Gaza. Today, 14 years after the accident, the Tel Aviv District Court ordered a Palestinian fund to compensate Ayin to the tune of NIS 5 million.

Ayin is one of 13 siblings, whose dad moved to ‘Israel proper’ a year before the accident. The father received assistance from Israel, and he was even granted an Israeli identity card. His wife and children remained in Gaza. After completing their schooling, they too moved to Israel.

In October 1995, the truck belonging to the Dir el-Balach Municipality struck the small child, resulting in a traumatic amputation of his left arm. Doctors in a Gaza hospital were forced to amputate his left leg above the knee. He was then brought to Israel by his family, where he received therapy, and is classified as 88.8% disabled. He never received an education, and is unable to read or write.  He is not employed.

In 1997, attorney Anat Kaufman filed a lawsuit on his behalf, directing the suit against an organization which assists accident victims, Karnit, the Dir el-Balach Municipality, and the PA ombudsman.

An attempt was made to have the suit dismissed, explaining an Israeli court does not have jurisdiction of an accident case in Gaza dealing with vehicles insured by the PA. Then Attorney General Elyakim Rubinstein, today a Supreme Court judge, ruled the court indeed has jurisdiction.

The trial was a long ordeal, for a number of reasons, including the logistical difficulties in bringing witnesses from Gaza as well as the fact the truck driver died.

Justice Brown in her ruling held the Palestinian Karnit organization liable to pay damages, NIS 2.3 million for loss of ability to integrate into society and NIS 2.7 for medical care, pain and suffering.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)