Speech of Andrew Standley, Ambassador of the European Union to Israel in the Save a Child's Heart launch event, June 20, 2010:

Thank you Miki  Chaimovich

Vice Prime Minister and Minister for Regional Cooperation Silvan Shalom

Yoram Cohen, Chairman of 'Save A Child's Heart'

Dr. Berlovich, director of Wolfson Medical Centre

Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen,

It is a huge pleasure for me to be with you today to celebrate the official launch of the 'Heart of the Matter' project which the European Union is supporting under its 'Partnership for Peace Programme'.

'The Heart of the Matter' is a wonderful project that works on several levels.

During the two years of the project, at least 400 Palestinian children from the West Bank and Gaza will visit the weekly cardiology clinics here at the Wolfson Medical Centre. Of these, at least 150 children will receive treatment and over 70 will receive life saving open-heart surgery.

But improving, and sometimes saving, the lives of the children and bringing salvation and joy to their families - is only part of the story.

The 'Heart of the Matter project will also train eight Palestinian physicians in the field of paediatric cardiac care at the Wolfson Medical Centre and will facilitate joint medical activities in Israel and overseas between physicians from, Israel the Palestinian Authority and the international medical community. This will include cooperation between the paediatric department at the Wolfson Medical Centre and the paediatric department at the Al-Watani Hospital in Nablus.

The project is already serving as a platform for volunteer activities by 'Seeds of Peace', an Israeli-Palestinian youth group who come here regularly to play with the children and talk to the parents.  

It also facilitates a weekly support and dialogue group for Palestinian and Israeli families, whose children are hospitalised here. Brought together by tragic circumstances, they meet to share their common concerns and to find both solace and practical help.

Finally, the entire project will be documented by Israeli and Palestinian professional photographers with the resulting exhibition to be shown both in Israel and in the Palestinian Authority.

So while the heart of the 'Heart of the Matter' project is about saving and improving lives, the different strands of the project create synergies, expanding its reach and impact to doctors, parents, volunteers for peace and indeed the general public on both sides.

It is a concrete example of how Israelis and Palestinians can work together under difficult circumstances and, as such, serves as a source of inspiration and hope for us all.

Ladies and gentlemen, I visited 'Save A Child's Heart' on the 2nd of March, just as the 'Heart of the Matter' project  was beginning and was deeply touched by my meetings with the children, the parents  and hospital staff.

Before coming here today, I asked 'Save a Child's Heart' how the children I had met were doing.

Here are the updates I received:

I had met Mohammed A-saeri from the West Bank village of Halil. Mohammad underwent surgery on March 9 and was discharged from the hospital a week after. He is due to be followed up by pediatric cardiologist Dr. Rula Awwad who trained with 'Save A Child's Heart' for three and a half years.
 

I had met Fatma Fukawy from Khan Younes in Gaza at the weekly clinic for Palestinian children. She had come in for a follow up check after undergoing her surgery last September. Fatma is doing well and needs to return to the clinic in one year's time. 
 

I had also met Malac A-seydi  from the West Bank village of Jet together with her parents. She was being checked in the weekly clinic when I visited. Malac will be monitored by her local pediatric cardiologist in and is invited to return for a follow up check in two years time. 

These are just three examples of how the 'Heart of the Matter' project is bringing life and hope to the children and their families. Through them it is also enriching the lives of wider circles of people who are involved in the project or exposed to it.

If we could only find a way of extending the good will and good relations generated by this project to other areas of life, it would be far easier for both Israelis and Palestinians to jointly contend with many of the problems that they face.

Israel can be justly proud of 'Save A Child's Heart' which is doing wonderful humanitarian work, not only with Palestinian children but with children throughout the world.  On behalf of the European Union, I would like to pay tribute to everyone connected with this fantastic enterprise  - and to simply offer them my thanks.

Thank you for your attention.