Arafat prays as Israel prepares for his death

Aides urgently summoned doctors from Jordan and Egypt, and Arafat’s wife, Suha, who lives in Paris, was flying in to be by his side today.

Persistent rumours in Israel say Arafat, who is believed to suffer from Parkinson’s disease, has stomach cancer.

But yesterday, Palestinian doctors insisted he was just suffering from the effects of flu and a gallstone.

Palestinian Cabinet minister Saeb Erekat said that Arafat was stable today.

He woke up at 3.30am and performed pre-dawn prayers in his Ramallah compound, Erekat said, adding that the doctors arriving from abroad would decided whether Arafat needs to be moved from his headquarters to a hospital.

Arafat has been confined to the sandbagged, partially-demolished West Bank compound for more than two years.

Last night, Communications Minister Azzam Ahmed said that Palestinian leaders had asked all the members of Arafat’s Fatah party living abroad to come to Ramallah. ”We are preparing ourselves for everything possible,” he said

A senior Palestinian official admitted Arafat was in serious condition.

One Palestinian official said Arafat has created a special committee consisting of Qureia, 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, travelling in Michigan with President George Bush, said US officials were monitoring the situation.

In Israel, defence officials were meeting 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.

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was to meet his defence minister, Shaul Mofaz.

Speaking in radio and TV interviews, Israeli officials, who have ostracised Arafat as a leader tainted by terror, speculated about the repercussions of Arafat’s possible death.

A Palestinian Authority without Arafat could become a partner for peace, said Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom. ”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.

A senior official in Sharon’s office said the Palestinians had asked Israel to allow foreign doctors to treat Arafat. “The prime minister immediately instructed the security officials and others involved to facilitate the transfer and any medical equipment and facilities Arafat might need,” the official said, adding that Israel would also allow Arafat to be transferred to any medical facility in the world.

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 yesterday a blood test and a biopsy of tissue from his digestive tract showed no evidence of that.

A hospital official said yesterday Arafat was suffering from a large gallstone. The gallstone, while extremely painful, is not life-threatening and can be easily treated, the official said.

Dr Ashraf Kurdi, head of the Jordanian team heading to Ramallah, said 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.

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 protégé could turn on him.

During Arafat’s long confinement in the compound, doctors have equipped two rooms with medical equipment, including X-ray, ultrasound machines and emergency resuscitation gear.

In tests this week, Arafat was in his pyjamas and wore a blue wool hat, instead of his trademark black-and-white headscarf.

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 cupboard, even though a new, sunnier room has been refurbished for him on another floor.

From his small window, Arafat looks out on rubble and heaps of cars flattened in previous Israeli raids.