JACKIE Jaidy lives in the shadow of death.

Every day dozens of Palestinians are killed in street battles as they rise up against Israeli occupation.

But the Knutsford mother, honoured in this year's New Year Honours' List, believes where there is life, there is always hope.

Mrs Jaidy, who grew up in Warren Avenue, has worked in Jerusalem for more than 30 years.

During a rare visit home last week, she admitted she would be bored by the end of her trip tomorrow (Thursday).

"I go round and do the shopping and by the end of the two weeks I'm ready to go back," she said."I think because of what I have seen, everything here now seems so materialistic. People are so extravagant."

Instead she will return to her little village in the troubled West Bank.

Twice it has been invaded and every day she must cross the border into Jerusalem where she works at the international eye hospital.

"You have to go through the humiliating process of lining up like cattle and showing the soldiers your permit," she said.

"When you get through you have to use public transport to get around which is mainly transit vans. Sometimes, when the staff have had problems at the checkpoint, they are psychologically done by the time they get to work."

On Friday, Mrs Jaidy told how she had been 'overwhelmed' to be awarded an MBE for her services to health.

"I was trying to check on the Internet because I thought maybe it wasn't true," she said.

The former Crosstown School and Knutsford High pupil had learned her basic first aid and nursing skills as a cadet at St John's Ambulance centre on the corner of Tabley Road.

She went on to train as a nurse at Manchester Royal Infirmary then spotted an advert for a sister's post in Jerusalem.

Since then she has never looked back.

"It's fulfilling because the hospital is specifically for poor people," she said. "If they can't pay they don't."

As matron Mrs Jaidy oversees the 70-bed St John Eye Hospital that cares for 200 patients a day.

More than 40,000 men, women and children - many of whom are refugees - are treated every year on a budget of £3.5million. But the growing national crisis has left 80% unemployed and the hospital, which is a charity, facing mounting pressure.

"It means no one can afford treatment so the hospital's costs are going up and that is causing a strain," she said.

"It's much worse now than in all the time I have been there."

St John's is a modern hospital, which performs the latest eye surgery and offers advice and preventative measures.

But in a culture with a high rate of intermarrying it is a constant struggle to get the message across.

Diabetes is rife and 25% of children have eye disease.

Conditions are not helped by the terrible state of the refugee camps.

"They do have electricity and running water now, but they also have open sewers," she said.

Mrs Jaidy, who met her husband Khalil through her hospital work, returned to Knutsford in the 1970s, but went back after his father died.

They built a house on a hillside near Bethlehem and from their vantage point have seen their village invaded twice in the past year. "Any shooting has been further down the valley, but it was still uncomfortable for us to see," she said.

"I suppose it must be like living in Northern Ireland where things just blow up, but it usually happens at night."

At Christmas the city's usually busy tourist shops were closed as foreign visitors stayed away.

It was another blow to the ailing economy and added to the increasing tension.

Those who get killed are usually militants, but others are sometimes caught in the crossfire.

"Because it is an uprising of the people many young people are killed," she said.

"They are frustrated and just go out and face the tanks to defend themselves. Many feel their problems have been forgotten by the rest of the world since September 11."

For the past year the 57-year-old mother of three and her husband have not gone out at night.

The area has no cinemas and instead the couple invite friends for dinner.

But she feels safe in Jerusalem and keeps in touch with friends and family through telephone calls and e-mails.

In the summer, though, she will return to England for an important date with the Queen.

"I shall have to buy a hat first," she said.

amoores@guardiangrp.co.uk