TEL AVIV Israel AP Emphasizing that peace meant tackling the killer disease together Israeli and Palestinian AIDS campaigners handed out condoms and literature to passengers departing Israel's international airport Tuesday. Similar campaigns were held simultaneously at airports in Amman Jordan and Ankara Turkey to mark World AIDS Day. ``This disease knows no country crosses every border and strikes men women and children of every nation every age every culture'' said U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Donna Shalala who arrived in Israel Tuesday. ``It's a disease that is totally and completely out of control in most of the world'' she said. ``While those of us who have large health budgets can afford to buy drugs to extend the lives of our citizens we do not have the resources to extend the lives of everyone who has HIV-AIDS and therefore the search for a vaccine and the emphasis on prevention is where we must go'' Shalala told The Associated Press. In Israel health ministry officials said there are 98 patients with full blown AIDS and about 2200 people who are HIV-positive. However the Israel AIDS Task Force which helped organized Tuesday's campaigns in Israel Turkey and Jordan estimates real figures could be four times as high. In Jordan more than 1000 brochures on AIDS prevention techniques were handed out to passengers at terminal gates at Amman's Queen Alia International Airport. Turkish President Suleyman Demirel who led his country's AIDS campaign told a conference Tuesday that although there were relatively few HIV cases in Turkey much work was to be done in order to protect a large population of youngsters from contracting the disease. He said there were 839 known cases of HIV infection in a country of 62.5 million. ``This is just the tip of the iceberg'' he said. At Israel's international airport near Tel Aviv Israeli women dressed as yellow blue and light green condoms combed the airport together with Palestinian women wearing modest white head scarves and passing out condoms red ribbons and collected charitable donations for joint efforts in fighting the disease. ``The peace process will start from these things. We are together against AIDS.'' said Ibtisam Rizik a Palestinian nurse. Inon Schenker executive director of the Jerusalem AIDS project agreed. ``Because the HIV virus knows no borders so we should know no borders in fighting it.'' Shalala arrived in Israel together with her 91-year-old Lebanese-born mother Edna who exchanged greetings with Israel's health minister in Arabic. Shalala will chair a two-day U.S.-Israel conference on women's health opening Wednesday. During her four-day stay she will also hold meetings with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu receive an honorary doctorate in philosophy from the University of Haifa and tour Palestinian health facilities in the West Bank. UR; dl APW19981201.0669.txt.body.html APW19981201.1002.txt.body.html