Ailing Arafat faces days of medical tests

1.30pm

CLAMART, France - Yasser Arafat will undergo a battery of medical tests today as French doctors try to discover whether the ailing Palestinian leader is suffering from leukaemia or some other blood disorder.

Arafat was stretchered into a French military hospital in the Paris suburb of Clamart on Friday, after arriving by helicopter at the end of a gruelling six-hour voyage from his shell-battered compound in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

The Palestinian president, effectively confined to his offices by Israeli forces for 2-1/2 years, only agreed to fly to France after Israel promised to allow him to return to the West Bank following treatment.

Aides said the 75-year-old would undergo several days of tests into his abnormally low count of blood platelets, a condition that can be caused by leukaemia.

Asked if Arafat was suffering from the blood cancer, a senior aide Mohammad Rashid said: "So far there is no confirmation from doctors on the disease.

"The initial examinations started only a few hours ago and it's too soon for the results. They won't be known for another 72 hours."

Leila Shahid, the Palestinian Authority's envoy to Paris, told reporters Arafat had been suffering from intestinal flu for at least three weeks, "but obviously there is more to it than that." Doctors needed "several days" to form a real diagnosis.

Arafat's wife Suha was at his side in the sleek and modern Percy Army Teaching Hospital, which has a strong reputation for treating blood disorders including cancer.

Well-wishers brandishing bouquets and Palestinian flags gathered outside the hospital but were unable to see Arafat.

US Secretary of State Colin Powell said he was "pleased that (Arafat) is now in a sophisticated medical facility where his health condition can be more carefully assessed. And I trust he will get the treatment that he needs."

Powell made his comments in an interview with Egyptian television, a transcript of which was released by the State Department.

Earlier, as the former guerrilla leader was placed on board a helicopter for Jordan on the first leg of his journey to France, scores of tearful bystanders, bodyguards and officials chanted his nom de guerre: "We will sacrifice our blood and souls for you, Abu Ammar."

"God willing, I will come back," a frail Arafat told aides.

An Israeli security source said of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's decision to allow his long-time foe to return after treatment: "We assessed Arafat's condition is irreversible and that it will eventually lead one way or the other to his disappearance from the political arena.

"That assessment led Sharon to decide to allow him to come back if doctors recommended, in the calculation that this scenario would probably never arise."

Arafat's declining health has raised fears of chaos among Palestinians, whose 4-year-old uprising for a state has stalled.

The death of a leader regarded by Israel and its US ally as an obstacle to peace could also shuffle the cards in the Middle East conflict as the United States heads into a presidential election on Tuesday.

Washington says Palestinians would be better off governed by a prime minister with control of all the security forces.

"That individual, so empowered, would give the Israelis a partner for negotiations," said Powell. Arafat might then take on another role within the Palestinian community.

Arafat has named no successor nor appointed an acting president to cover for him during his treatment.

Officials in the West Bank said Prime Minister Ahmed Qurie would run the day-to-day affairs of the Palestinian Authority. Former Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas will run the Palestine Liberation Organisation.

Should Arafat die, parliamentary speaker Rawhi Fattouh would replace him as Palestinian Authority president for a 60-day period during which elections would be held.

- REUTERS