by Jiang Xiaofeng, Jamal Hashem

    BAGHDAD, March 27 (Xinhuanet) -- Shiites and Sunnis sat side byside as blood filled bags through plastic tubes, hoping their donation will help whoever needs it.

    Dozens of Iraqis, from all walks of life with different sectarian and ethnic backgrounds, lined up Sunday outside a blood donation station set at the headquarters of the Iraqi Islamic Party which initiated the blood donation campaign.

    "The goal of such a blood drive is to achieve the unity of the Iraqi people, under humanitarian actions," doctor Alaa Maki, also a member of the party, told Xinhua at the party's headquarters. "The donated blood will be distributed to all Iraqis no matter who they are and we also call for other Iraqi parties and humanitarian institutions to do the same to save the lives of Iraqi patients and wounded people while living together in peace," said Maki while busy helping the donors.

    The Iraqi National Center for Blood Donation is facing an acute shortage of blood since the tide of violence in the already war-ravaged country sees no sign of easing away. The Iraqi hospitals are also in need of medicine and medical appliances. The blood donation campaign, designated to help address the problem, is expected to last for several days.

    "Nothing can better fraternize the divided Iraqis than blood," doctor Abdul Wadod Khaled told Xinhua.

    Khaled said his colleagues held blood donation campaigns in Sunni mosques during the battles in the Iraqi Shiite city of Najafin 2004. They did the same in the Shiite mosques while the Sunnicity of Falluja was under attack by US-Iraqi forces. "The blood drives consolidated the unity of the Iraqi people,"Khaled said.

    Iraq's communities have been divided ideologically on political process in the post-war Iraq, with the embittered Sunni minority boycotted the elections and the once unfavored Shiite majority look to a bigger say in state matters through widespread participation in the vote.

    Despite holding different perspectives on politics, many Iraqis say the brotherhood between Sunnis and Shiites is as solid as it has been.

    All the schemes to incite a civil war are doomed, said a middle-aged Sunni man who did not hesitate to roll up his sleeve. Some 148 people including 16 women donated blood at the donation station in the Islamic Party's headquarters by Sunday noon time and each of them was awarded a book of the Islamic holy Quran. Some donors came immediately after they heard from the loudspeakers in mosques that called on people to donate blood and others heard from the radio of the Islamic Party. "Families and individuals gathered together, encouraging each other to head to the headquarters," a woman said.

    "They (Nurses) couldn't find my vein in the right arm, so they switched to the left. It was painful but I am very glad to offer some help. I hope that God may give security as we help each other," said the 28-year-old dentist Sarah.

    Despite having blood hypertension, Sarah said the pain of losing a relative in Mosul by a bomb just a day before the blood donation campaign started and her religious duty brought her to the donation station.

    "I just want to help," she said while kept clutching and unfolding her hand for a smooth flow of blood. Enditem