Our Story
We transport Palestinian patients to and from the border crossings for treatment in Israeli hospitals.
The journey from the border crossing is virtually impossible for the hundreds of parents of sick children, due to both expense as well as logistical complexity.Parents are left completely helpless in the face of their child’s illness. The Palestinian Authority finances the hospital treatment, but getting to and from the hospital remains a huge and often insurmountable barrier.
With the help of Road to Recovery volunteers, this journey becomes simple and doable. And while doing that simple act of kindness, a strong bond of new warmth and friendship is created, replacing the suspicion and doubt that is all too present.
2023, which has just ended, was a difficult and turbulent year. On October 7th we woke up to a new and painful reality that we have been trying to deal with ever since.
On that Shabbat morning, Tammy Suchman, Vivian Silver, Adi Dagan, Hayim Katsman and Eli Orgad, all of blessed memory, were murdered. Oded Lipshitz and Chaim Peri were abducted to the Gaza Strip Area and have still not returned.
Many volunteers lost family members on that terrible day, and during the ongoing war that ensued. Dozens of our volunteers, residents of the Western Negev, were evacuated from their homes and have been living, ever since, in temporary housing throughout the country.
The war in Gaza continues and all of us pray that the hostages will return home safely and that the war will end quickly. And yet, in spite of all this, the organization’s volunteers have not stopped for a moment and on the morning of October 8th we drove patients from the West Bank to hospitals in Israel.
The “Road to Recovery” continued to drive Palestinian patients from the checkpoints to hospitals in Israel.
In memoriam of volunteers murdered in October 7th.
Vivian Silver
Tammy Suchman
Eli Orgad
Hayim Katsman
Adi Dagan
Chaim Peri
Still held in captivity:
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Oded Lifshitz
Returned from captivity:
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Yocheved Lifshitz
Yuval Roth - R2R Founder
Yuval Roth joined the Parents’ Circle Family Forum (PCFF) (also known as Israeli Palestinian Bereaved Families for Reconciliation and Peace) following the abduction and murder of his brother Udi. In 1993 by Hamas militants murdered Udi while on his way home from reserve duty in the Gaza Strip.
At the PCFF, Yuval met Muhammed Kabeh from the town of Ya’bad near Jenin. Muhammad asked a small favor from his new friend Yuval: Would he help transport his brother, a cancer patient, from the border crossing to Rambam Hospital? Yuval was more than happy to help his friend.
A short while after, similar appeals for transportation came in from more and more families from Ya’bad and the entire area. Yuval recognized this need, and mobilized to assist his Palestinian neighbors.
The Palestinian Authority pays for treatment, but because there is no public transport from the border crossings to the hospitals, the high cost of the journey became a serious obstacle that was hard for patient families to overcome. With requests for help continuing to flow in, Yuval mobilized more and more friends and volunteers to help with transporting patients.
The activity expanded from one friend doing a favor for another friend, into an organization that now completes 10,000 journeys each year. And in so doing, a community that brings Israelis and Palestinians together on a daily basis was formed.
The Yeshayahu Leibowitz Prize is awarded to Yuval Roth
The Road To Recovery Association congratulates its founder, Yuval Roth, on being awarded the Yeshayahu Leibowitz Prize for his service to the public. We are equally proud and excited by the recognition which he so richly deserves.
The award ceremony took place on Monday September 12, 2022 at the Tzavta Theater in Tel Aviv.
R2R Activities
Hospital Transportation
Round-trip transportation from Gaza and West Bank border crossing to Israeli hospitals.
Road to Recovery transports Palestinian patients with the help of its volunteers every day throughout the year. Thanks to the generosity of donors we can increase the number of volunteer trips through reimbursement of fuel costs.
Fun Days
Arrangement of Fun Day outings and social gatherings.
As personal connections with Palestinian patients and families strengthened through the millions of kilometres driven, it became clear that treatment alone is not enough to achieve complete recovery.
A child who spends most of his young life having dialysis or intense chemotherapy treatment also needs a smile, a laugh and a fresh sea breeze. To this end, the Association arranges Fun Days at the beach, trips to the Safari Park, holidays at the Jordan River Holiday Village, and other enjoyable activities for patients and their families.
Medical Equipment & Treatments
Acquiring medical equipment and lifesaving treatments.
Road to Recovery’s budget includes a clause for medical assistance which stands at 5% of the total budget. In addition, R2R’s volunteers mobilize ad hoc initiatives to raise funds for medical and lifesaving equipment for Palestinian patients who have not received funding from the Palestinian Authority and lack the means to fund it themselves.
A Humanitarian Journey
The Road to Recovery Association is the largest organisation of its kind in the country, enabling people from both sides of the border, caught in a continuing bloody conflict, to meet on a daily basis. On the face of it, this is just a simple journey. But sometimes during this journey, a small movement takes place, softening the hearts of the all inside that car.
The opportunity afforded to the volunteers to meet family members of a patient, usually a child, allows politics and religion to be put aside, dissolving barriers of language and fear, allowing prejudices to be left behind. What remains is the simple act of good people meeting good people, on a joint venture to save a life.
These face-to-face meetings allow for conversation and interaction between Israelis and Palestinians, which probably never would have taken place but for this journey. Consequently, a bridge of hope, reconciliation and friendship is built.