Girl Who Sought Operation Dies
A 12-year-old Jordanian girl who went to Israel for an urgent bone marrow operation died in a Jerusalem hospital and was brought home to Jordan for burial Saturday.
“It’s God will, it’s God will, the hospital tried what they could, but it’s God’s wisdom,” Hiba Shabaan’s father, Rushdi, 42, said after placing her body in a newly dug grave in Hashimiyeh cemetery on the outskirts of this working-class area close to Amman. “God asked for her, and it is better that she goes immediately to Him than wait.”
The attempt to save the girl’s life was made possible through the signing of the Israeli-Jordan peace treaty Oct. 26, after which Rushdi Shabaan appealed to Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin for help in treating her.
Her father and family elders carried the body draped in white cloth into a white ambulance for the drive to the cemetery.
Hiba had arrived in Israel on Monday with her parents and younger brother Mohammed, who was considered a suitable donor.
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