CANOE -- CNEWS - World: Israeli doctors treat Iraqi children
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Israeli doctors screened 40 Iraqi children suffering from heart disease Tuesday - a rare case of direct co-operation between the Jewish state and the Arab country.
The Iraqi children and their parents gathered at an outpatient clinic in the Red Crescent Hospital in the Jordanian capital, Amman. Most of the families were Sunni Muslims of Kurdish origin who live in northern Iraq. Also among them were three Sunni families who live in Baghdad.
One child screened Tuesday was four-year-old Mustafa, who Houri said was diagnosed with crossed arteries and would need two surgeries in Israel soon to unfold them before they harden.Powered by ScribeFire.
Mustafa's mother, a Kurdish woman who identified herself only as Suzanne because she feared reprisals from militants in Iraq, said travelling to Israel made her "anxious. Not because I'm going to a country considered an enemy of Iraq, but because I'm afraid of retribution by Iraqi militants, by the terrorists back home."
"I'm afraid and it's not easy for me at all, but I'm willing to take the risk to save my beloved son's life," she said as she caressed Mustafa.
"Israel is a good country. It's a country that has mercy on other people," she added.
Abu Ahmed, 36, a taxi driver from the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk, said his 12-year-old daughter, Basita, underwent a successful surgery in Israel last year.
"The Israeli doctors, bless their hearts, stitched a notch in her heart," he said. "They told me today that she recovered completely, and I'm grateful to them and their country for helping us out."
"They (Israelis) are not our enemies," he said. "They helped me a lot and didn't make me feel like they were enemies. Many Muslims have a wrong idea about Israelis."
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