Israeli officials
are barring a Palestinian AIDS patient from traveling
from Gaza to Tel Aviv for medical care, saying he poses a
security risk to the country, reports the U.K.
newspaper The Independent. The man had been
undergoing an extended course of treatment at a Tel
Aviv hospital, but the military has three times since
December 2005 refused requests to allow him to travel back
to the hospital to continue his therapy. The chairman
of the Israeli Medical Association and six leading
AIDS experts in Israel have sent a letter to the
Israeli government demanding that the Palestinian man be
allowed to journey to Tel Aviv, saying that the
patient's health is deteriorating because of a
lack of AIDS treatment facilities in Gaza. The Israeli
intelligence agency, Shin Bet, says the man poses a security
threat but refuses to elaborate further on barring his
entry into Israel. (Advocate.com)