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Idit Harel Segal was turning 50, and she had chosen a gift: She was going to give one of her own kidneys to a stranger.
The kindergarten teacher from northern Israel, a proud Israeli, hoped her choice would set an example of generosity in a land of perpetual conflict. She was spurred by memories of her late grandfather, a Holocaust survivor, who told her to live meaningfully, and by Jewish tradition, which holds that there's no higher duty than saving a life.
So Segal contacted a group that links donors and recipients, launching a nine-month process to transfer her kidney to someone who needed one.
That someone turned out to be a 3-year-old Palestinian boy from the Gaza Strip.
바카라You don't know me, but soon we'll be very close because my kidney will be in your body,바카라 Segal wrote in Hebrew to the boy, whose family asked not to be named due to the sensitivities over cooperating with Israelis. A friend translated the letter into Arabic so the family might understand.
바카라I hope with all my heart that this surgery will succeed and you will live a long and healthy and meaningful life.바카라
 Just after an 11-day war, 바카라I threw away the anger and frustration and see only one thing. I see hope for peace and love,바카라 she wrote. 바카라And if there will be more like us, there won't be anything to fight over.바카라
What unfolded over the months between Segal's decision and the June 16 transplant caused deep rifts in the family. Her husband and the oldest of her three children, a son in his early 20s, opposed the plan. Her father stopped talking to her.
To them, Segal recalled, she was unnecessarily risking her life. The loss of three relatives in Palestinian attacks, including her father's parents, made it even more difficult.
바카라My family was really against it. Everyone was against it. My husband, my sister, her husband. And the one who supported me the least was my father,바카라 Segal said during a recent interview in her mountaintop home in Eshhar. 바카라They were afraid.바카라
When she learned the boy's identity, she kept the details to herself for months.
바카라I told no one,바카라 Segal recalled. 바카라I told myself if the reaction to the kidney donation is so harsh, so obviously the fact that a Palestinian boy is getting it will make it even harsher.바카라
 Israel has maintained a tight blockade over Gaza since Hamas, an Islamic militant group that opposes Israel's existence, seized control of the area in 2007.
The bitter enemies have fought four wars since then, and few Gazans are allowed to enter Israel. With Gaza's health care system ravaged by years of conflict and the blockade, Israel grants entry permits to small numbers of medical patients in need of serious treatments on humanitarian grounds.
Matnat Chaim, a nongovernmental organization in Jerusalem, coordinated the exchange, said the group's chief executive, Sharona Sherman.
The case of the Gaza boy was complicated. To speed up the process, his father, who was not a match for his son, was told by the hospital that if he were to donate a kidney to an Israeli recipient, the boy would 바카라immediately go to the top of the list,바카라 Sherman said.
On the same day his son received a new kidney, the father donated one of his own 바카라 to a 25-year-old Israeli mother of two.
In some countries, reciprocity is not permitted because it raises the question of whether the donor has been coerced. The whole ethic of organ donation is based on the principle that the donors should give of their own free will and get nothing in return.
In Israel, the father's donation is seen as an incentive to increase the pool of donors.
For Segal, the gift that had sparked such conflict in her family accomplished more than she hoped. Her kidney has helped save the boy's life, generated a second donation and established new links between members of perpetually warring groups in one of the world's most intractable conflicts. She said she visited the boy on the eve of his surgery and maintains contact with his parents.
Segal said she honored her grandfather in a way that helps her cope with the grief of his death five years ago. The donation was an act of autonomy, she said, and she never wavered. And eventually her family came around 바카라 a gift, perhaps, in itself.
She said her husband understands better now, as do her children. And on the eve of Segal's surgery, her father called.
바카라I don't remember what he said because he was crying,바카라 Segal said. Then, she told him that her kidney was going to a Palestinian boy.
For a moment, there was silence. And then her father spoke.
바카라Well,바카라 he said, 바카라he needs life, also.바카라
