Monday, January 01, 2007

It's in the Blood

Both Palestinians and Israelis are experiencing extreme shortages of blood, and making urgent calls for blood donors to come forward.

In the Palestinean territories analysts are blaming this shortage of donors on the fact that the population is fed up with the factional fighting between Hamas and Fatah. "Why give your blood? For whom? For one to kill the other?" one Palestinean is quoted as saying in this article.

At the same time Israel is also experiencing an extreme shortage of blood. Officials say that no blood will be allocated to any non-emergancy operations. Until more donors come forward, blood will only be allocated to save lives. But according to this article, the reason is not that Israelis are fed up, but "because of the colder weather."