Ailing Arafat arrives in Paris hospital
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, suffering from a serious but mystery illness, arrived in France today for urgent treatment – ending nearly three years of Israeli-imposed confinement at his battered West Bank compound.
Shortly after he landed at a military airfield outside Paris, the 75-year-old was transferred to a helicopter and flown to the Hopital d’Instruction des Armees de Percy, south-west of the capital.
The facility is a military hospital with a major trauma centre but also specialises in the treatment of blood disorders, said Christian Estripeau, head of communications for military health services.
Opened in 1996, the hospital is a state-of-the art facility set on a hilltop, with sweeping views of Paris.
Outside the hospital, a small group of supporters had gathered, holding bouquets of flowers and waving Palestinian flags.
“I am waiting for Yasser Arafat to tell him that we are with him,” said Fatima Mera, a 35-year-old French woman of Moroccan origin. We hope he will leave here and continue the struggle for the Palestinian people.”
However, Arafat’s presence in France also stirred controversy. Families of French victims of terrorist attacks in Israel plan to ask judicial authorities to question Arafat.
The pursuit of any criminal probe against Arafat is bound to complicate the French government’s diplomatically sensitive decision to provide him with medical treatment.
Arafat has been sick for two weeks, and blood tests revealed he has a low platelet count. Doctors say they need to run more tests to find the cause, but Arafat’s personal doctor, Ashraf Kurdi, ruled out leukaemia.
Israeli officials have speculated that Arafat has stomach cancer, but his doctors said tests ruled that out. The Palestinian leader has shown symptoms of Parkinson’s disease since the late 1990s.
The physicians said there could be a variety of causes for a low platelet count, including cancer, and that further testing was needed.
Kurdi said there was no immediate threat to Arafat’s life.
“His condition is good, his spirits are high,” he said.
Platelets are blood components that aid in clotting. A low count can be caused by many medical problems, including bleeding ulcers, colitis, blood cancers such as leukaemia and lymphoma, liver disease, lupus and chickenpox. The platelet count also can be low because of treatment with blood thinners.
French President Jacques Chirac said his government had flown Arafat to Paris at the request of the Palestinian leader’s entourage, who were “confronted with an apparently difficult situation concerning his state of health.”
