Ex-prisoner banned from seeking treatment abroad

Israel on Tuesday rejected an official application by the Palestinian Authority to allow a former female detainee to visit Jordan for urgent medical treatment. Director general of the Nablus district Tayseer Nasrallah said Israel informed the PA that Amal Jumaa, 41, would not be granted approval to travel to Jordan because "there is enough healthcare in Israel." Jumaa suffers from cancer of the uterus and other serious health issues complicated by her time in jail. She was arrested for membership of Fatah's armed wing and released in the Oct 18. prisoner exchange deal between Hamas and Israel after having served nine years of an 11 year sentence. The governor of Nablus Jibreel al-Bakri called on the Egyptian government, who mediated the Shalit prisoner deal, to put pressure on Israel to grant Jumaa permission to travel. Jumaa said Israel's rejection of her application to seek medical treatment in Jordan was "a decision to execute her." She called on human rights groups to intervene to have the decision overturned. Reacting to the suggestion she should seek medical care in Israel, Jumaa said that she would refuse any treatment. "I do not trust them in the first place, and they were responsible for my illness because they did not provide appropriate medical care in custody." Jumaa was among 27 female and 450 male prisoners released from Israeli jails in the first phase of an exchange deal which saw captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit released by Hamas. In the second phase of the agreement, Israel will release 550 further prisoners in two months, a process Hamas officials say has been guaranteed by Egypt.