CLAMART, France: Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, who doctors say may have leukaemia, was conscious and in “good shape” at a French hospital yesterday after leaving the West Bank for the first time in more than 2-1/2 years.
The 75-year-old president was rushed to the hospital by helicopter after landing at a military airfield southwest of Paris. He was stretchered inside.
“President Arafat has been suffering from an intestinal flu for at least three weeks, but obviously there is more to it than that,” said Leila Shahid, the Palestinian Authority’s envoy to Paris, at the hospital in the Paris suburb of Clamart.
Doctors had already begun examining him but would need “several days before (they) can finish all the examinations and arrive at a real diagnosis,” she added.
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.
A dozen sympathisers bearing flowers and Palestinian flags gathered outside the hospital but were unable to see Arafat. Arafat had earlier been taken by helicopter to Jordan from his compound in the West Bank city of Ramallah, where he had been effectively confined by Israeli forces for 2-1/2 years.
As he was placed aboard the aircraft, scores of tearful bystanders, bodyguards and officials chanted his nom de guerre: “We will sacrifice our blood and souls for you, Abu Ammar.” “The mountain cannot be shaken by the wind,” they called out, repeating one of his favourite sayings.
Arafat flew first to Amman, where doctors carried him in his wheelchair into a waiting French jet and laid him on a stretcher. “God willing, I will come back,” Arafat told aides.
A senior Palestinian official said that Arafat was believed to be suffering from leukaemia, a blood cancer that can be fatal. One of the doctors treating Arafat said earlier the disease had probably been ruled out but that tests showed him to have an abnormally low count of blood platelets – which can be caused by leukaemia or other illnesses.
“We welcome him and all I can do today is to wish that he recovers his health as quickly as possible,” President Jacques Chirac said in Rome where leaders signed the EU’s constitution.
Officials in the West Bank said Prime Minister Ahmed Qorei will run the day-to-day affairs of the Palestinian Authority. Former Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas will run the Palestine Liberation Organisation.
Israel gave Arafat assurances that he would be allowed back into the West Bank after undergoing medical treatment. – Agencies

photo: Yasser Arafat, assisted by wife Suha, leaves his headquarters in Ramallah yesterday. – afp
Last update on: 30-10-2004