Paralyzed Palestinian girl fights to stay in Israel

By Joseph Nasr

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Paralyzed from the neck down in an Israeli attack on militants, six-year-old Palestinian Maria Amin is fighting an order to move her from a rehabilitation centre in Israel to the occupied West Bank.

Maria can move around in a wheelchair controlled by a joystick she guides with her chin, but her Israeli doctors say her life would be in danger if Israel's Defence Ministry has its way and sends her to the West Bank city of Ramallah.

Two years ago, Maria was paralyzed from the neck down when the car she was traveling in was caught in a missile attack on a leader of the Islamic Jihad militant group in Gaza. Her mother, grandmother and older brother were killed.

The Defence Ministry, which has covered Maria's medical expenses and sponsored her father and younger brother to live with her at a Jerusalem hospital, has been seeking since last year to send her to Ramallah's Abu Raya Rehabilitation Centre.

Maria's father, Hamdi, appealed against the decision, but on Tuesday Israel's Supreme Court put off for a third time a hearing on the case until December, when an injunction blocking her transfer to the Ramallah facility expires.

Adi Lustigman, Maria's lawyer, told the court that the Abu Raya Rehabilitation Centre lacks adequate equipment to attend to her special needs.

"She needs to live near the hospital, she must be near the emergency room -- things she cannot have in the West Bank," Lustigman told reporters outside the courtroom.

"Maria cannot have her mother, brother or grandmother back, she cannot have her body, but there are things we can do to make things better and this is to take care of her for all of her life because she cannot survive outside Israel," Lustigman said.

Upset at what he described as foot dragging, Maria's father said he believed the court did not want to set a precedent that would encourage other Palestinians hurt in Israeli attacks to seek long-term medical treatment in Israel.

The Defence Ministry maintains that Israeli law does not require the army to compensate Palestinians injured in fighting against militants in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. It said sponsoring Maria was a humanitarian gesture.

(Editing by Richard Williams)