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Arafat had been eating soup during a meeting when he vomited. He collapsed and was unconscious shortly afterward. |
Posted on 10/28/2004 4:28:10 AM PDT by Happy2BMe
An ailing Yasser Arafat performed Muslim prayers before dawn Thursday and ate a light breakfast, but his condition remained serious and a team of doctors flying in from Arab countries will decide whether he needs to be transferred from his compound to a hospital, aides said.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, in a telephone conversation with his Palestinian counterpart, agreed to allow Arafat to be flown abroad for treatment but it remains unclear if that will happen.
As CBS News Reporter Tali Aronsky reports, Arafat's latest health problems come at a time of unprecedented political and security instability in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, raising fears of a potential bloody power struggle among the top brass of the Palestinian leadership.
On Wednesday evening, the 75-year-old leader's persistent two-week illness had taken a sudden turn for the worse. Arafat 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 to be by his side. Mrs. 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 long-time friend of Arafat who visited the Palestinian leader 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.
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.
However, 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.
Late Wednesday, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon spoke by phone with his Palestinian counterpart, Ahmed 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 have given conflicting assessments of Arafat's condition. Some insisted he is stable, while others said he was in serious condition. "We are preparing ourselves for everything possible," Palestinian Communications Minister Azzam Ahmed told the Al-Jazeera satellite television station.
Two Palestinian leadership groups, the Central Committee of the ruling Fatah movement and the PLO Executive Committe, plan to meet at Arafat's headquarters 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, traveling in Michigan with U.S. President George W. Bush, said U.S. officials are monitoring the situation.
In Israel, defense officials were meeting Thursday to discuss the fallout from Arafat's possible death. 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 was to meet later in the day 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.
Palestinian officials said he had the flu. Israeli officials speculated he might have stomach cancer, but two of his doctors said Wednesday a blood test and a biopsy of tissue from his digestive tract showed no evidence of that.
On Tuesday, a hospital official said Arafat was suffering from a large gallstone. The gallstone, while extremely painful, is not life-threatening and can be easily treated, the official said.
Kurdi, head of the Jordanian team, told The Associated Press that he was urgently summoned to Arafat's compound but was given no details by the Palestinians' aides.
"I tried to get a medical report from them. I couldn't get anything," he said.
Israeli officials speculated Arafat had suffered a stroke. Arafat has shown symptoms of Parkinson's disease since the late 1990s.
Arafat has not left his compound since 2002 for fear of being snatched by Israeli troops. Israel, which accuses Arafat of stoking violent attacks against it, had previously said Arafat was free to leave the compound and even to travel abroad, but it would not guarantee he would be allowed to return.
As Arafat's condition worsened Wednesday, a senior Palestinian official told the AP that a decision to move Arafat from his compound to a hospital would be made purely on medical grounds, without considering politics.
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.
During Arafat's long confinement in the compound, doctors have outfitted two rooms with medical equipment, including X-ray, ultrasound machines and emergency resuscitation gear.
In tests this week, Arafat was in his pajamas and wore a blue wool hat, instead of his trademark black-and-white checkered headscarf, an official on the medical team said.
The medical official said Arafat continues to sleep in a small room, which has only one window and is furnished with a bed and a closet, even though a new, sunnier room has been refurbished for him on another floor.
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Arafat had been eating soup during a meeting when he vomited. He collapsed and was unconscious shortly afterward. |
Wake me when he croaks.
Arafat fades quickly within only months of when Bill Clinton had his narrow brush with destiny.
Who's tense? Most Americans are delighted. LOL
I can't decide if champagne or a case of beer is more appropriate for toasting this turd's demise.
Tense???
Everybody dies sooner or later. He's old, and has led a life filled with hate and murder.
They say he came down with the flu, didn't he get his flu shot? Or is GWB at fault for that too? :-)
From our FRiend Allouette...
"Our sages say, "Ba'avod reshoim, rinah!" (Rejoice at the death of evildoers.")"
Permission to party down people.
_____________
LOL.
As long as there's a demise, I don't think our choice of beverage matters :-)
I'm trying to resist the urge to start celebrating early.....
Remember who loves Arafat?
The Democrats will have lost one of their true heroes.
Die, die, die, you subhuman piece of pigsh!t, Arrid-fart.
I think the tension is with the odds-makers in Vegas.
Yeah, me too. I had between 5:00 and 7:00 this morning in the pool.
I am tense though. He could pull through.
What tension? The only tension will be if he recovers sufficiently to again direct activities of the jihadists and assorted terrorists.
Oh, yes. The most frequent visitor to the Clinton WH.
I was hoping...still am...that President Bush does not send an American representative to his funeral. Carter can go on his own, I suppose.
evil people survive longer than they should..
he is pure evil!
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