Pregnant Syrian woman travels to Israeli border, gives birth in Israel

The oddest-case-scenario came true in the wee hours this morning at Ziv Medical Center, located in northern Israel near the Syrian border: A 20-year-old Syrian woman gave birth to a healthy, 3.2-kilogram baby boy.

The woman is one of “>Wounded Syrians find care in Israel that is no longer available at home.” Sara Paperin, international liaison at the Western Galilee Medical Center (a hospital in nearby Nahariya that is also treating Syrians), said one pregnant woman who was about to pop decided to leave the hospital before her older daughter had been discharged, specifically to avoid finding out what would happen if her baby was born in Israel.

However, Israeli immigration attorney Tamar Klarfeld said in a phone interview that the baby is “definitely not an Israeli citizen. Nobody gets Israeli citizenship unless they're born to Israeli parents.” Concerning any problems the baby might have once he's back in Syria, Klarfeld said she couldn't give legal advice over the phone, but pondered: “I suppose [the mother] could say the baby was born in Syria.”

Ziv spokesman Maor said the young Syrian woman who gave birth this morning was more caught up with “the normal concerns of every mother. She also came without the baby's father, so she didn’t have anyone to comfort her. And she told us that they don’t have enough food over there.”

If the mother and child continue in good health, they will be discharged within the next two to three days, said Maor — at which point the IDF will come pick them up and take them back to Syria.

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