Yasser Arafat has suffered a mild heart attack but the Palestinian leadership has sought to keep his health problems secret for fear it will "create panic," a British daily reported in its Wednesday edition.
The 74-year-old Palestinian president disappeared from public view last week and re-emerged at the weekend looking extremely ill. His face was pale and pinched, he had lost weight and he was almost inaudible. He had trouble standing for more than a few minutes at a time.
The Palestinian press said he was suffering from flu. But Palestinian officials told the Guardian newspaper that Arafat had suffered a heart attack last week. "Although he has had a slight heart attack, the doctors say he will make a full recovery. He is in full control. There is nothing to worry about," said a close aide to Arafat, who asked not to be named.
Asked why it had not been made public at the time, the official said that it would "have created panic at a critical time when the Israelis are threatening Arafat's life".
At the beginning of last week, the Palestinian president was visited by his personal physician from Jordan, Dr Ashraf al-Kurdi, and a heart specialist, Yousuf al-Qusous, after he abruptly cancelled all appointments and disappeared from view. The doctors said the Palestinian president had been hit by flu but was recovered. "The illness is over, thank God," Dr Kurdi said at the time.
But a few days later, Arafat was again isolated from all but a few close aides. The official explanation was flu. Sources inside the Palestinian leader's compound in Ramallah said he was too weak to eat for several days.
Meanwhile, the Palestinian foreign minister, Nabil Sha'ath, on Wednesday denied the Guardian report. Sha'ath told Israel's Army Radio that Arafat had suffered a "viral infection of his stomach...and this led him to stop eating for four or five days which accounts for his frail look." Sha'ath said that the Guardian report "was not
true at all." (Albawaba.com)
© 2003 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
