Yitzchak Rabin, Bill Clinton, King Hussein
Yitzchak Rabin, Bill Clinton, King HusseinIsrael news photo: The White House

Former U.S. President Bill Clinton received two stents during a surgical heart procedure at New York's Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center Thursday afternoon after being rushed to the hospital with chest pains, according to a statement from his office.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton traveled from Washington to New York to be with her husband for the procedure.

There was no word on changes to his scheduled trip to Saudi Arabia and Qatar, slated to begin this Friday.

Clinton has a history of heart disease; in 2004, he underwent a quadruple bypass operation to address problems with blockages in four coronary arteries. A second surgery was required six months later to remove fluid and scar tissue from his left chest cavity.

Clinton consultant Douglas Band told reporters the former president, age 63, was in "good spirits and will continue to focus on the work of his [William J. Clinton Foundation]" following the procedure.

Clinton has been traveling back and forth from Haiti to head relief and recovery efforts since the island was hit by a massive earthquake on January 12. Band said the former president, who has been serving as the United Nations Special Envoy to Haiti since 2009, would continue "Haiti's relief and long-term recovery efforts" following his discharge from the hospital."

Bill Clinton served as 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001, and was the third-youngest president ever to serve in that position. The Oslo Accords, which set up the Palestinian Authority (PA), were signed in the eighth month of his first term.

A little more than a year later, Clinton orchestrated the peace treaty between Jordan and Israel, signed by then-Prime Minister Yitzchak Rabin and then-Jordanian monarch, King Hussein.

Clinton also was responsible for the final-status talks in 2000 at Camp David between then-Prime Minister Ehud Barak and then-PA Chairman Yasser Arafat. Despite huge concessions offered by Barak that included handing over nearly all the lands of Judea and Samaria for establishment of a new PA statement, Arafat refused the deal. The Second Intifada soon followed.