WEST BANK/ISRAEL: PALESTINIAN OFFICIAL SAYS AILING PRESIDENT YASSER ARAFAT IS CONSCIOUS AND WELL BUT IN NEED OF SOME REST / AIDE TO ISRAELI PM SHARON SAYS ISRAEL WILL FACILITATE ACCESS TO HEALTH CARE

Record ID: 400037

  • Title: WEST BANK/ISRAEL: PALESTINIAN OFFICIAL SAYS AILING PRESIDENT YASSER ARAFAT IS CONSCIOUS AND WELL BUT IN NEED OF SOME REST / AIDE TO ISRAELI PM SHARON SAYS ISRAEL WILL FACILITATE ACCESS TO HEALTH CARE
  • Date: 27th October 2004
  • Summary: (W1) RAMALLAH, WEST BANK (OCTOBER 27, 2004) (REUTERS) (NIGHTSHOTS) 1. VARIOUS OF PALESTINIANS AND REPORTERS WAITING OUTSIDE PALESTINIAN PRESIDENT YASSER ARAFAT'S COMPOUND (3 SHOTS) 0.15 2. (SOUNDBITE) (English) NABIL ABU RDEINEH, SENIOR AIDE TO ARAFAT SAYING: "He is in a stable condition. He is in need of some rest, his condition is well and what
  • Embargoed: 11th November 2004 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: RAMALLAH, WEST BANK/ TEL AVIV, ISRAEL
  • City:
  • Country: Palestinian Territories
  • Reuters ID: LVA8YGL8PXBJ74YER8488WGLYFKX
  • Story Text: Palestinian official says Palestinian President
    Yasser Arafat is conscious, while Sharon spokesman says
    Israel will facilitate access to health care.


    Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's health has
    worsened sharply and he is slipping in and out of
    consciousness at his besieged West Bank headquarters,
    officials and medics said on Thursday (October 28).

    Arafat, 75, veteran symbol of the struggle for
    statehood, beloved by most Palestinians and reviled by many
    Israelis, was "very, very sick", a Palestinian cabinet
    minister said on condition of anonymity. Details of the
    illness were unclear.

    But Nabil Abu Rdeineh, Arafat's senior aide, said that
    Arafat's condition was stable.

    "He is in a stable condition. He is in need of some
    rest, his condition is well and what, but what he is still
    in need for more rest and more medical care," Abu Rdeineh
    said from the Muqata (Arafat's compound).

    He said Arafat was "conscious, but in need of some
    rest."
    Palestinian leaders were summoned to the battered
    compound where Arafat has been effectively penned by
    Israeli forces for more than two years, accused by Israel
    of fomenting violence in a 4-year-old uprising. Arafat
    denies the charge.

    Questions over Arafat's health have increased fears of
    chaos in Palestinian territories because he has not named
    an obvious successor. Security forces were put on high
    alert as reports of Arafat's condition swept the West Bank
    and Gaza Strip.

    One confidant said Arafat preferred treatment at his
    "Muqata" compound to either a Palestinian hospital or going
    abroad if that was possible because he feared that if he
    left, the Jewish state would never allow him to return.

    Ra'anan Gissin, senior side to Israeli Prime Minister
    Ariel Sharon said Israel would let Arafat seek treatment
    wherever he wanted at home or abroad.

    "The clear instructions of the prime minister, whom I
    just spoke with a couple of minutes ago, was clear and
    unequivocal, this is a humanitarian case and we will
    provide any assistance that will be required in order to
    facilitate the treatment of Mr. Arafat," Gissin said.

    Palestinian officials 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.

    Witnesses said Prime Minister Ahmed Qurie and his
    predecessor Mahmoud Abbas, old comrades of the struggle for
    a state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, went into Arafat's
    headquarters. They made no comment as they left.

    Officials said the president's wife, Suha Arafat, was
    expected in Ramallah from her Paris home on Thursday. She
    has been in Ramallah since the uprising erupted after peace
    talks with Israel collapsed in 2000.

    Arafat underwent a minor diagnostic procedure on Monday
    (October 25) after complaining of stomach pains.

    Palestinian officials said then that an endoscopy found no
    serious ailment but the president remained weak.



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