Yasser Arafat flew to Paris on Friday morning for emergency medical treatment, leaving for the first time in more than two years the battered Ramallah compound in which Israel has confined him.
Doctors from four Arab countries were on Thursday unable to pinpoint what had caused the serious deterioration in the health of the 75-year-old Palestinian leader, amid growing speculation he is suffering from leukaemia.
Ariel Sharon’s government lifted its ban on Arafat leaving the occupied territories, and for the first time guaranteed that he would be allowed to return to the West Bank, in a move to ensure that Israel is not accused of contributing to his death.
A succession of doctors examined Arafat at his compound on Thursday and recommended that he immediately travel abroad for treatment after losing consciousness and repeated vomiting on Wednesday.
An aide to Arafat, Munnib al-Masri, said that medical tests over recent months have not revealed what is afflicting the Palestinian leader. He said the ailment was almost certainly a blood condition, probably life threatening, but doctors have been unable to discover which one.
Doctors have told Arafat’s aides that his immune system is collapsing. Israeli officials have told Israeli newspapers that the Palestinian leader is suffering from a type of ”blood cancer”.
In an attempt to allay fears that he is on his deathbed, the Palestinian leadership released a photograph on Thursday of Arafat wearing blue pyjamas, a black woollen hat and smiling while surrounded by ministers and aides. But officials said the Palestinian leader was gravely ill, had been confined to a wheelchair and was still vomiting periodically. One official said Arafat appeared dazed and did not recognise those around him. Palestinian officials and the visiting doctors, from Egypt, Jordan and Tunisia, have previously said Arafat was suffering from flu and gallstones. They have denied he has cancer.
Arafat’s compound has two rooms fitted with medical equipment, including an X-ray scanner, ultrasound machines and emergency resuscitation gear. Tests on him have been carried out here.
Arafat’s wife, Suha, arrived in the West Bank from Paris on Thursday for the first time since the start of the intifada four years ago. The French government dispatched an air ambulance to Jordan to carry Arafat to Paris. His car, surrounded by aides and a large crowd of supporters, moved slowly up to the helicopter on Friday morning before he flew the Jordanian capital, Amman.
On Thursday night, bulldozers had began removing defences inside Arafat’s compound designed to prevent Israeli military helicopters landing.
The Palestinian leadership has prepared for Arafat’s incapacitation or death with the appointment of a three-man committee to run affairs. They are the prime minister Ahmed Qureia, the former premier, Mahmoud Abbas, who is Arafat’s deputy in the Palestine Liberation Organisation, and a senior Fatah official, Salim Zanoun.
Under the Palestinian basic law, if Arafat dies, the speaker of Parliament, Rawhi Fattouh, would replace him as president of the Palestinian Authority for 60 days while elections are held.
Two Palestinian leadership groups, the central committee of the ruling Fatah movement and the PLO executive committee, were expected to meet at Arafat’s headquarters on Thursday night to discuss how to handle the crisis.
But there were hints at the potential for turmoil after Arafat is gone, when Qadura Feres, a Palestinian MP and senior member of Fatah, on Thursday suggested that elections would not be possible within that time frame because of the continued Israeli stranglehold on the occupied territories.
”We have this terrible situation and I don’t think we will be able to have elections in 60 days so we have to change the basic law and appoint a president,” he said.
Sharon then held a security meeting. Israel has prepared contingency plans, including how to deal with potential riots and how to prevent attempts by the Palestinians to bury Arafat in Jerusalem.
Arafat has spent all of the past two-and-a-half years confined to his compound, which has been substantially rebuilt since the 2002 Israeli raid. He has slept in a small room with one window and a single bed. – Guardian Unlimited Â