Palestinian boy's organs go to 6 Israelis

JENIN, West Bank -- Ismail Khatib watched his slain 12-year-old son lowered into a grave yesterday, knowing that organs transplanted from his body would save lives in Israel.

The boy, Ahmad, was shot by Israeli soldiers Thursday as he played in a street with a toy rifle at the entrance to the Jenin refugee camp. It was the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr, when many Palestinian children take to the streets.

The army said soldiers on a raid to arrest militants had come under fire and shot back from their vehicle when they spotted the boy more than 100 yards away, mistaking him for a gunman.

Ahmad was critically wounded in the head and taken to a hospital in the Israeli city of Haifa.

When doctors told his parents there was no hope for his survival, they agreed to donate his organs. Yesterday, the organs were transplanted to six Israelis.

It was a striking moment of humanity in the blood-soaked Palestinian-Israeli conflict, highlighted on Israeli news broadcasts as an act of peace. Ismail Khatib said he had lost a brother who died of kidney failure, and understood the need for organ donations.

''When the doctor told me that there was no hope that my son would live, my brother came to mind, and I thought that I could help," he said. ''The recipients were unknown, and it didn't matter to me whether they were Jewish, Muslim or Christian. It was a humanitarian matter, so that someone else could live."

Yesterday, Ahmad's heart was beating in the chest of Samah Gadban, a 12-year-old girl from Pekiin, a village of the Druze sect in northern Israel. She had waited five years for a transplant.

The boy's lungs were transplanted to a 14-year-old girl suffering from cystic fibrosis, his kidneys to a 4-year-old girl and 5-year-old boy, and sections of his liver to a 7-month-old girl and 58-year-old woman.

''Part of our son is still alive," said Abla Khatib, Ahmad's mother, weak with grief after her son's body was brought home to her before burial. ''We gave life to someone else. We proved that we want peace."

Ismail Khatib said he is proud that ''a part of my son has given life to someone in Israel."

''This proves to Israel that there are people here who understand the meaning of humanity," he said.

''The occupation is barbaric. Maybe a child who received an organ from my son will grow up to be a leader, and put an end to this aggression."