Posted on 10/22/2004 8:12:11 PM PDT by SmithL
Associates of Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat said on Friday that his health was in decline again, Channel One has reported.
Hadash MK Ahmed Tibi dismissed the reports, stating that Arafat was only suffering another bout of the flu.
The chairman has apparently had a temperature, fatigue and other signs of the disease in recent days. However, one of Arafat's aides had said on Tuesday that Arafat's health had improved.
Arafat apparently caught his cold two weeks ago on Tuesday, while walking in the windy courtyard of his headquarters, aides said. That evening, he felt nauseous during dinner, couldn't finish his meal and went to bed early, an aide added.
His condition was so bad Friday that he was unable to complete the first day of Ramadan prayers and unlike past years, he did not receive delegations arriving at his headquarters known as the Muqata in the West Bank city of Ramallah for his holiday blessings.
Since then, he has been conducting private meetings, but has refrained from the wider forums like the PLO executive and other such group meetings that he routinely sees on a daily basis.
According to diplomatic sources in Jerusalem, a delegation from Egypt, including doctors, visited Arafat to examine his health, arriving at the Muqata on Monday night.
An assistant said Tuesday that Arafat's fever and nausea had passed, and that he had been strong enought to chair a three-hour meeting with Fatah members on Monday night.
Arafat's health has been the subject of much speculation over the years. In some cases, in the Oslo years, he would use "diplomatic illness" to avoid participation in meetings he did not want to attend, or to express protest against developments that he opposed. Sometimes his own staffers were behind leaks about his health, and on occasion, the leaks were meant to win him sympathy.
This week's reports about his illness come as Europe and others build pressure on Israel to strike a deal with Arafat, enabling him to travel to Gaza, possibly in exchange for handing over at least some of his powers to his prime minister, Ahmed Qureia.
Israeli political elements have recently met with Arafat associates in an attempt to "revive political channels" with Arafat's bureau, they say.
How much worse can it get?
There was a thread around here that said Arafat has aids.
Arafat and Castro should be buried together
Go ahead and die arafat.
Wouldn't it be ironic if Arafat died because he didn't get a flu shot?
How much better could it get?
Who will he pass the table cloth to?
Hark, is that the bluebird of happiness I just saw fly past my window?
Well, he did endorse Kerry, didn't he?
Promises, promises.
I dunno' but he sure looks bad. Kinda like HELLen Thomas without the charm.
Why ramp down slowly, Mr. Chairman, when you can just as easily invoke rule 9(mm) and force an abrupt resolution?
Touché.
I probably should have said "How much worse can he get and still be alive." :-)
Good. I hope he dies soon.
There's a flu and handkerchief joke in there somewhere.
Don't rejoice untill you see the boxes lowered into the hole. Remeber, only the good die young.
...and don't wait until they're dead.
exactly
I heard on FoxNews tonight that Castro had surgery for his fractured knee, under local anesthetic. He refused general...nervous I guess...
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