Iraqi baby gets help in Israel

By David Chazan
BBC, Jerusalem

A week-old Iraqi baby girl has been taken to Israel for a heart operation which cannot be performed in Iraq.

Doctors say the arteries to her heart are reversed and she needs emergency surgery within the next week.

Israelis hope Bayan's treatment will build bridges

The story is making headlines in Israel, where there are hopes that the history of enmity between Israel and Iraq may end if the American-led occupying forces manage to restore stability.

Cradled in her mother's arms and swathed in a red and yellow blanket, tiny Bayan Jassem was welcomed by Israeli doctors with the Arabic greeting "Salaam Aleikum".

Her trip to Israel was organised with the help of an Israeli charity called 'Save a Child's Heart'.

Bayan and her parents were accompanied by Jonathan Miles, an American who has often escorted Palestinian children to Israeli hospitals.

A day after Bayan's birth near Kirkuk in northern Iraq, an American doctor diagnosed her condition.

He contacted Mr Miles who in turn got in touch with the Israeli charity and doctors.

The hugely complex operation Bayan needs is to be performed at the Wolfson Hospital in Holon, central Israel.

The director of the hospital is an Israeli, who was born in Iraq.

He said he hoped that the operation on Bayan would serve as a bridge between the Iraqi and Israeli peoples.