WIDE ANGLE | Heart of Jenin | PBS

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/wideangle/episodes/heart-of-jenin/introduction/4991/ When a twelve-year-old Palestinian boy is killed in the West Bank city of Jenin by Israeli soldiers who mistook his toy gun for the real thing, it could have been just one more blip on the news: one more human tragedy that devastated a family and community, but rippled no further into the world's consciousness.

But something extraordinary happened that turned Ahmed Khatib's tragic 2005 death into a gift of hope for six Israeli children. Even while overwhelmed with grief, Ahmed's parents consented to donate their son's organs. Amid the violence and hatred surrounding an intractable conflict, a simple act of humanity rose above the clamor and captured worldwide attention.

Heart of Jenin tells the story of Ahmed's tragic death and his father Ismael Khatib's journey to visit three of the organ recipients two years later. One of Ahmed's kidneys went to an Orthodox Jewish girl, his other to a Bedouin boy. While his parents hesitated to donate Ahmed's heart, it now beats in
the chest of a Druze girl. Crossing from northern Israel to the Negev desert and ending up in Jerusalem, Khatib encounters every complexity of the conflict: deep-seated animosity, hardened judgments, and heartfelt generosity. While laying bare the deep divisions between Israelis and Palestinians, Heart of Jenin offers a rare vision of common humanity and hope. To learn more, go to: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/wideangle/episodes/heart-of-jenin/introduction/4991

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