Heart of Slain Israel Soldier Given to Palestinian : Transplant: A humanitarian gesture may have political overtones for a troubled land.

JERUSALEM —  The heart of an Israeli soldier killed by Arab gunmen was transplanted into a Palestinian heart attack patient Thursday in a humanitarian gesture fraught with political overtones.

The family of the Arab Muslim patient, Hanna Khader, a 54-year-old former hotel manager, responded tearfully.

“I can’t tell you how happy I am,” said Khader’s wife, Mary, as she broke away from well-wishers after the four-hour transplant operation. “He’s a human being, and there is no difference between a Palestinian and an Israeli in such cases.”

Late last year, the family of a critically ill Jew petitioned a Palestinian family for the heart of a son shot in the head by soldiers in the West Bank city of Nablus.

The Palestinians turned down the request after a heated debate within the family and among anti-Israeli activists in Nablus. Muslim fundamentalists also opposed the transplant on religious grounds.

Both men died.

Khader’s daughter, Jamilla, rejected political interpretations in the saving of her father’s life. “In such cases, we cannot mix politics with medicine. If we refused to take the heart, it would be like killing him (Khader) with our own hands.”

She had heard from radio broadcasts that the donor was Jewish.

A doctor at Hadassah Hospital said that the family of the dead soldier, Zeev Traum, from the northern kibbutz of Yodfat, knew that one of three candidates for the heart transplant was an Arab. However, during an interview on Israel Television, Traum’s widow, Brenda, declined to say whether she knew a Palestinian would receive the organ.

The Palestinian received the heart because doctors determined that of the three patients, he had the best chance of surviving. The heart was flown by helicopter from Seroka Hospital in the southern desert town of Beersheba to Hadassah for the operation.

Traum, 43, like Khader, was the father of four children. Doctors described Khader’s condition as good.

Traum, a reserve sergeant in the army, and another soldier were killed in a Monday ambush in the Gaza Strip. Both were shot in the head while riding in a jeep. It was the first armed ambush by Palestinians during the 23-month-old uprising against Israeli rule.

Troops have been combing the crowded Palestinian towns and refugee camps of the Gaza Strip looking for suspects but have turned up none.

The attackers used AK-47 rifles, according to government radio reports, and officials expressed concern that the shooting marked an escalation of the uprising, which until now has been limited mainly to stone and gasoline bomb attacks.

The fundamentalist Islamic Resistance Movement, known by its acronym Hamas, claimed responsibility for the shooting, according to news reports.

About 600 Palestinians have been killed by soldiers during the intifada, as the uprising is called. Another 135 Arabs have been killed by other Arabs on suspicion of working for Israeli intelligence. Forty-two Israelis have died, including nine soldiers.

In the midst of continuing bloodshed, the Traum donation gave rise to rare expressions of high-minded sentiments. “I hope this spirit will become the governing relationship between Palestinians and Israelis,” said Ibrahim Dakak, head of an Arab think tank in Jerusalem. “We are neighbors, and we should live like neighbors.”

An Israeli government Foreign Ministry official said, “This proves that violence has not completely overcome the human factor in our relationships.”