MP Beitawi dies in hospital after IOA refused his travel for treatment

MP Hamed Al-Beitawi died in Makased hospital in occupied Jerusalem on Wednesday after the Israeli occupation authority (IOA) refused to allow him travel for medical treatment in Jordan.

Sheikh Beitawi, who is the head of the Palestinian scholars association, has been suffering from heart problems for the past weeks and was in need of an open heart surgery that was difficult in the West Bank in view of his diabetic condition.

The IOA denied him permission to leave for Jordan for the operation and agreed to let him into occupied Jerusalem for the surgery, which he underwent, in the company of his wife alone because she is originally a Jerusalemite.

The Sheikh, 70, has been suffering from diabetes for the past 20 years, his youngest son said, adding that his condition worsened during his administrative detention in Israeli jails without medical care. He had to amputate a number of his toes after his release.

The IOA refused to allow any of his sons into Jerusalem to prepare for their father’s burial.

The Israeli occupation forces on Tuesday stormed Beitawi’s house in Nablus and searched it before taking away his eldest son Fadl.

Beitawi won the biggest number of votes in the general elections in Nablus. He was running on the Hamas list. The Sheikh was one of the founders of Muslim Brotherhood movement in Palestine and was a renowned Islamic propagator.