Arafat's Health failing...

[tres-b]

Arafat to Be Moved to Hospital

Thursday, October 28, 2004

RAMALLAH, West Bank — An ailing Yasser Arafat (search) performed Muslim prayers before dawn Thursday and ate a light breakfast, but his condition remained serious and Israeli security officials said he would be moved from his headquarters to a nearby hospital.

However, Israeli security officials said the Palestinians (search) have only requested, for now, to take Arafat to a local hospital.

On Wednesday evening, Arafat's persistent two-week illness took a sudden turn for the worse. He vomited after eating soup, then collapsed and was unconscious for about 10 minutes, a bodyguard said.

Aides urgently summoned doctors from Jordan and Egypt, and Arafat's wife, Suha, was en route to the West Bank from Tunis. Suha Arafat lives in Paris, and has not seen her husband since 2001.

Arafat performed pre-dawn prayers and later had cornflakes for breakfast, said Monib al-Masri, a longtime friend who visited him Thursday. "He prayed and he is fully awake," al-Masri told The Associated Press.

Palestinian Cabinet minister Saeb Erekat said doctors arriving from abroad, including teams from Jordan and Egypt, would decide whether Arafat needs to be moved from his headquarters to a hospital. The Jordanian team, including Arafat's personal physician, Dr. Ashraf Kurdi, crossed into the West Bank before noon.

Before leaving Amman, Kurdi told The Associated Press he didn't have an official report on Arafat's health but that the Palestinians had asked him to come "because he might be suffering from a serious disease."

Arafat has been confined to the sandbagged, partially demolished compound for more than two years. He has been kept inside both by occasional Israeli military blockades and by threats that he would not be allowed to return if he leaves.

Israeli security officials said Thursday that Israel is ready to guarantee Arafat's return should he seek treatment abroad. Israel is doing everything it can to avoid being blamed for Arafat's health problems, officials said.

However, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak (search) was skeptical. "If Arafat wants to come to Egypt, it would be difficult to get Israeli guarantees to let him go back," Mubarak told reporters in Cairo.

Late Wednesday, Sharon spoke by phone with Qureia and agreed in principle to allow Arafat to be flown abroad, if necessary. The two men did not discuss whether Israel would ensure Arafat would be able to return, said Sharon aide Asaf Shariv.

Palestinian officials gave conflicting accounts of Arafat's condition. Some said he was in serious condition, while others had more upbeat assessments. "We are preparing ourselves for everything possible," Palestinian Communications Minister Azzam Ahmed told the Al-Jazeera satellite television station.

Arafat's health crisis has highlighted how unprepared the Palestinians are for their leader's death, making a chaotic transition period all but inevitable. Arafat has refused to groom a successor, fearing an impatient protege could turn on him.

Two Palestinian leadership groups, the Central Committee of the ruling Fatah movement and the PLO Executive Committee, planned to meet at Arafat's headquarters later Thursday.

One Palestinian official said Arafat has created a special committee consisting of Qureia, former Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas, and Salim Zaanoun, head of the Palestinian National Council, to run the PLO and the Palestinian Authority while he is ill.

But when asked if Arafat had set up such a committee, Arafat spokesman Nabil Abu Rdeneh said: "Nothing like that."

White House spokesman Scott McClellan said U.S. officials were monitoring the situation.

In Israel, defense officials met Thursday to discuss the fallout if Arafat dies. Israel has prepared contingency plans, including how to deal with possible riots and prevent Palestinian attempts to bury Arafat in Jerusalem.

Israel has marked a possible burial site for Arafat in the Jerusalem suburb of Abu Dis, in the West Bank, security officials said. The Haaretz daily said Israel has taken the location of the plot into consideration in planning the route of its West Bank separation barrier.

Sharon met Thursday with his defense minister, Shaul Mofaz.

Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said a Palestinian Authority without Arafat could become a partner for peace. "We always said we would be willing to talk to a Palestinian leadership that would be willing once and for all to bring an end to the bloodshed," Shalom told Israel Radio.

Arafat has been ill for two weeks, but reports about his ailment have varied widely -- from the flu to speculation by Israeli officials that he has stomach cancer. Two of his doctors said Wednesday a blood test and a biopsy of tissue from his digestive tract showed no evidence of stomach cancer.

On Tuesday, a hospital official said he was suffering from a large gallstone. The gallstone, while extremely painful, is not life-threatening and can be easily treated, the official said.

Some Israeli officials speculated Arafat had suffered a stroke. Arafat also has shown symptoms of Parkinson's disease since the late 1990s.

Israel, which accuses Arafat of stoking violent attacks against it, had previously said he was free to leave his Ramallah compound and even to travel abroad, but it would not guarantee he would be allowed to return.

Doctors have equipped two rooms of the compound with medical equipment, including X-ray and ultrasound machines and emergency resuscitation gear.

[g420]

Once he finally dies the IAF should napalm his funeral

[tres-b]

In all honesty, this is a Muslim terrorist who is going to die of old age. Why doesnt he strap on some explosives and contribute to his cause???

[g420]

In all honesty, this is a Muslim terrorist who is going to die of old age. Why doesnt he strap on some explosives and contribute to his cause???

Cause he's a scared faggot that sends others to do his dirty work, where's his false prophet allah now

[kramadas]

Cause he's a scared faggot that sends others to do his dirty work, where's his false prophet allah now

false prohet allah - damn, this gets more and more fun as your increasing stupidity gets exposed!

sad. Son, pick up a book or ten and learn something about the world. I know your ancestors were stuck on an island but you CAN break out of it.

[g420]

false prohet allah - damn, this gets more and more fun as your increasing stupidity gets exposed!

sad. Son, pick up a book or ten and learn something about the world. I know your ancestors were stuck on an island but you CAN break out of it.

allah, mohammed, same asshole, who cares, bunch of mental patients who believe in this garbage

[kramadas]

allah, mohammed, same asshole, who cares, bunch of mental patients who believe in this garbage

good job son! You took my advice and learned something - congratulations!

Anybody who believes in any organized religion with a "God"(be it Allah, Jesus, Mary, Shiva, the Father, or fuckin Satan) watching over them is a mental patient!!!

Meaning the whole lot of settlers (your friends) and christian evanagelists are included.

[g420]

good job son! You took my advice and learned something - congratulations!

Anybody who believes in any organized religion with a "God"(be it Allah, Jesus, Mary, Shiva, the Father, or fuckin Satan) watching over them is a mental patient!!!

Meaning the whole lot of settlers (your friends) and christian evanagelists are included.

no jackass you camel humping friends are the only ones who think they're getting 72 virgins if the kill themselves other religions have morals & values, that's why jews & christians prosper & muslims still rot in their mud huts

[jtk4]

they do have some giant palace type mud huts. With a shit load of cars in their mud hut garages.

lol

[kramadas]

they do have some giant palace type mud huts. With a shit load of cars in their mud hut garages.

lol

Seriously. That moron has never even been to any of those places - all he knows is from debkafiles and truereporting.com!

G420 - go ahead and wait for your "second coming" - what a joke that people actually believe that Jesus is going to come and lead the worthy to the kingdom of heaven..hahahah...its right up there with the 72 virgins when I die bullshit! There sure are going to be a lot of disappointed people in the ME!

[therunner]

no jackass you camel humping friends are the only ones who think they're getting 72 virgins if the kill themselves other religions have morals & values, that's why jews & christians prosper & muslims still rot in their mud huts

I guess that's why Islam is the fastest growing religion in the world? Everyone lives in mudhuts? SO be it, most of them are very humble. Unlike the christians and catholics that thrive off of of tarrifs and thives! Get real, there boy. Christianity has changed so much over the last 1500 years it amazing it's still around. And how do they branch off? How is that if Jesus is your savior and someone elses savior, they go to pugatory and you don't, or vise-versa. At least Islam hasn't changed, they keep their story straight.

[ghhhhhost]

repenting for ur sins thru monetary means never made sense to..confessing my fuckups to a guy sittin behind a mosquito screen was never my thing either....Orthodox Christians are a bit more liberal with their shit...they only hit us up for $$ like once or twice a yr...

i duno y ur arguing about religion..all it is is another social construct used to keep people divided...its easier to control smaller groups than a united front...

as for yasser..when its time to go..its time to go..his death will most likely create a void in the PLO...a lot of confusion and power struggle...