Arafat "very, very sick"
RAMALLAH - Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat is "very, very sick" and is slipping in and out of consciousness, according to officials and medics.
The 75-year-old ex-guerrilla has for decades symbolised the struggle for Palestinian statehood.
He has suffered stomach pains since last week but took a dramatic turn for the worse on Wednesday. A team of foreign doctors is due to carry out tests on him.
Mr Arafat's slide into illness has raised fears of chaos among his people, whose struggle for a state in the West Bank and Gaza is stalled after a four-year-old uprising.
The short, stubble-bearded Palestinian icon, usually seen in his trademark black and white Arab headdress, has named no successor in the decade since leaving exile under interim peace accords for which he shared a Nobel peace prize.
Palestinian leaders rushed with medics to the battered compound where Mr Arafat has been effectively penned in by Israeli forces for more than two years.
Israel accuses him of fomenting violence after peace talks collapsed. Mr Arafat denies the charge.
Contingency plans
Medical sources say Mr Arafat suffered spells of unconsciousness and at other times appeared dazed and disoriented.
He was unable to eat nor drink without vomiting and was hooked up to an intravenous drip, officials said.
"He is really in a very, very serious condition, though we cannot say he is dying," one senior official said.
Contingency plans have been made to shift Mr Arafat to a hospital for treatment if need be before teams of US, Egyptian and Jordanian doctors arrive later in the day.
After visiting Mr Arafat at the compound, where hundreds of Palestinians gathered, Cabinet Minister Azzam al-Ahmad said: "He is in a stable condition but there is no improvement. He was joking with us. He needs more medication and tests."
Cabinet secretary Hassan Abu Libdeh earlier said Mr Arafat was "in critical condition".
One confidant says Mr Arafat prefers treatment at his shell-battered "Muqata" compound to either a Palestinian or foreign hospital. He feared Israel would never allow him to return.
Comrades, wife summoned
Israeli officials said they would let Mr Arafat seek treatment wherever he wanted at home or abroad, but the question of his return was "a separate issue after he recuperates".
Palestinian officials have repeatedly said in the past few days that the former guerrilla leader was recovering from a bout of "stomach flu".
But he has not appeared in public for days, stirring speculation about the gravity of his condition.
Prime Minister Ahmed Qurie and his predecessor Mahmud Abbas, old comrades of decades of fighting for a state, were summoned to Mr Arafat's headquarters. They made no comment as they left.
But Mr Arafat's spokesman denied an Al Jazeera report that the president had appointed a three-man committee to act in his absence.
In a sign of how serious Mr Arafat's condition is, his wife, Suha, is expected in Ramallah from her Paris home for the first time since the Palestinian uprising erupted.
-- Reuters
The 75-year-old ex-guerrilla has for decades symbolised the struggle for Palestinian statehood.
He has suffered stomach pains since last week but took a dramatic turn for the worse on Wednesday. A team of foreign doctors is due to carry out tests on him.
Mr Arafat's slide into illness has raised fears of chaos among his people, whose struggle for a state in the West Bank and Gaza is stalled after a four-year-old uprising.
The short, stubble-bearded Palestinian icon, usually seen in his trademark black and white Arab headdress, has named no successor in the decade since leaving exile under interim peace accords for which he shared a Nobel peace prize.
Palestinian leaders rushed with medics to the battered compound where Mr Arafat has been effectively penned in by Israeli forces for more than two years.
Israel accuses him of fomenting violence after peace talks collapsed. Mr Arafat denies the charge.
Contingency plans
Medical sources say Mr Arafat suffered spells of unconsciousness and at other times appeared dazed and disoriented.
He was unable to eat nor drink without vomiting and was hooked up to an intravenous drip, officials said.
"He is really in a very, very serious condition, though we cannot say he is dying," one senior official said.
Contingency plans have been made to shift Mr Arafat to a hospital for treatment if need be before teams of US, Egyptian and Jordanian doctors arrive later in the day.
After visiting Mr Arafat at the compound, where hundreds of Palestinians gathered, Cabinet Minister Azzam al-Ahmad said: "He is in a stable condition but there is no improvement. He was joking with us. He needs more medication and tests."
Cabinet secretary Hassan Abu Libdeh earlier said Mr Arafat was "in critical condition".
One confidant says Mr Arafat prefers treatment at his shell-battered "Muqata" compound to either a Palestinian or foreign hospital. He feared Israel would never allow him to return.
Comrades, wife summoned
Israeli officials said they would let Mr Arafat seek treatment wherever he wanted at home or abroad, but the question of his return was "a separate issue after he recuperates".
Palestinian officials have repeatedly said in the past few days that the former guerrilla leader was recovering from a bout of "stomach flu".
But he has not appeared in public for days, stirring speculation about the gravity of his condition.
Prime Minister Ahmed Qurie and his predecessor Mahmud Abbas, old comrades of decades of fighting for a state, were summoned to Mr Arafat's headquarters. They made no comment as they left.
But Mr Arafat's spokesman denied an Al Jazeera report that the president had appointed a three-man committee to act in his absence.
In a sign of how serious Mr Arafat's condition is, his wife, Suha, is expected in Ramallah from her Paris home for the first time since the Palestinian uprising erupted.
-- Reuters
<< Home