Atop the Mount of Olives stands a sort of fortress --the Lutheran World Federation's Augusta Victoria Hospital. Always there for Palestinian refugees, it has served them solidly through four wars and a popular uprising. Today amid talk of peace, however, this hospital--named for a German kaiser's wife--is under siege again. The rugged competition of modern health care, Israeli HMOs spreading from West to East Jerusalem and Palestine's uncertain prospects are its new challenges. Meanwhile U.N. funding, which used to pay most patients' bills, is in steady decline.
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© 2013 Augsburg Fortress, Publishers
