News Brief20:42 PM

(IsraelNN.com) Israeli doctors screened 40 Iraqi children suffering from heart disease this week - a rare instance of direct cooperation between the Jewish state and Iraq. The doctors said they hoped their work – which was carried out in Amman, Jordan - would help improve relations between the two nations and ease tensions between Israel and the rest of the Arab world.

Dr. Tzion Houri, director of the pediatric intensive care unit at Wolfson Medical Center in Holon, said he thought "ties and friendship" were being built through his work in Jordan with the Iraqi children. "Our only previous exchanges with the Iraqis were the Scud missiles," he said, referring to the missiles Iraq, under former dictator Saddam Hussein, fired on Israel during the 1991 Gulf War.

The heart program is sponsored by Save a Child's Heart, a humanitarian organization founded in Israel in 1996. Logistical support is provided by the Jerusalem-based Christian group, Shevet Achim. Surgery is carried out at Israel's Wolfson Medical Center, and funding comes from private sources, including Christian charity groups and individuals. The group has sent Iraqi children to Israel in the past as well.