Haaretz - Yasser Arafat in serious but stable condition
11:53
Palestinian leaders summon Fatah members living abroad to Ramallah
PA minister: Arafat 'very, very sick'; Egyptian, Jordanian doctors head to Ramallah to treat PA leader; Arafat's wife, Suha, expected Thursday.
11:14
IDF has 'day after' plan, which includes a possible burial site for Yasser Arafat
IDF concerned that Israel would be blamed for Arafat's demise, due to his confinement to Muqata, reports that Israel planned to kill him.
06:16
Analysis: Arafat's departure would remove main justification for Gaza plan
It would undermine the claim that 'there is no partner' for peace, which is used to justify Ariel Sharon's unilateral disengagement plan.
haaretzdaily.com
JPost - Arafat may be transferred to hospital in Ramallah
By KHALED ABU TOAMEH AND MATTHEW GUTMAN
MUKATA, Ramallah
Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat may be transferred to a hospital in Ramallah within the next few hours, a PA cabinet minister told The Jerusalem Post Thursday morning.
He said Tunisian and Palestinian medics who have been treating the 75-year-old PA chairman for the past few days were now trying to persuade him to leave the Mukata compound for treatment in hospital.
"He needs more medical tests and the Mukata is not the proper place for this," the minister added.
During Arafat's nearly three years of confinement in the compound, doctors have equipped two rooms with medical equipment, including X-ray, ultrasound machines and emergency resuscitation gear.
The PA minister also said he was unable to confirm or deny reports about a slight improvement in Arafat's health in the past few hours. "Only a few people have seen him since Wednesday night," he said. "I also don't know if the reports that he participated in dawn prayers are true."
Imad Shakur, a close ally of the PA chairman, said Thursday morning, "Yasser Arafat's condition is critical but stable."
Dr. Mustafa Barghouti, a cardiologist who visited Arafat Wednesday night, told The Jerusalem Post that Arafat is currently conscious and doctors are tying to determine whether he can fulfill his duties.
"He is seriously sick and has a severe illness but he is being cared for by a good medical team. His main problem is in the gastro intestinal tract," Barghouti said.
Barghouti, head of the Palestinian Peace Initiative and one of the harshest critics of the PA chairman, added that the medical problem is making Arafat unable to eat and digest.
Asked why Arafat was not being moved to a hospital, Barghouti said, "there is no difference, he is receiving adequate medical attention here with very good doctors."
Barghouti confirmed that Palestinian and Tunisian doctors were treating Arafat, and that Egyptian and Jordanian doctors would be arriving Thursday. "I hope he is going to recover," Barghouti said.
Yasser Arafat's Jordanian personal physician, Dr. Ashraf al-Kudri, has received instructions from Jordan's King Abdullah to travel to the Mukata Thursday morning and attend to the PA chairman.
Doctors in Ramallah announced that medical tests have shown that the PA chairman does not have cancer. The diagnosis, confirmed by a blood test, comes a day after a hospital official said Arafat had a large gallstone.
Sources close to Arafat said he spent most of Wednesday lying in bed and did not receive visitors. "He's still very weak, but he's slowly recovering," said one source.
Arafat's latest health problems come at a time of unprecedented political and security instability in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, raising fears that his death could trigger a bloody power struggle among the top brass of the Palestinian leadership.
An official in Arafat's office said the Palestinian leader had created a special committee consisting of PA Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei, former prime minister Abbas, and head of the Palestinian National Council Salim Zaanoun, to run the PLO and the Palestinian Authority while Arafat is ill.
But when asked if Arafat had set up such a committee, Arafat spokesman Nabil Abu Rdeneh said: "Nothing like that."
Communications Minister Azzam Ahmed said that Palestinian leaders had asked all the members of Arafat's Fatah party living abroad to come to Ramallah.
"We are preparing ourselves for everything possible," he said.
Another PA minister told The Jerusalem Post on condition of anonymity, "President Arafat is dying."
jpost.com |
