October 29, 2004

THE SAUDI CROWN PRINCE CALLS THE PALESTINIAN PRIME MINISTER TO BE REASSURED ABOUT ARAFAT'S HEALTH AND OFFERS TO SEND A SPECIAL PLANE TO LIFT HIM TO ANY OF THE KINGDOM'S PRESTIGIOUS HOSPITALS OR TO ANY OTHER PLACE OF HIS CHOICE FOR TREATMENT. THE PALESTINIAN PRESIDENT ARRIVES IN PARIS THROUGH JORDAN FOR TREATMENT AFTER THE DETERIORATION OF HIS HEALTH. Crown Prince Abdullah Ibn Abdul Aziz, Deputy Prime Minister and Commander of the National Guard, made a telephone call to Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei to be reassured of the health of President Yassir Arafat. During the conversation, Crown Prince Abdullah offered to send a special plane to evacuate and lift President Arafat to any of the Kingdom's prestigious hospitals or to any other place of his choice for treatment. On his part, Qurei thanked Crown Prince Abdullah for his noble and fraternal feelings, noting that this behaviour is not strange, given the support of the Kingdom's government and people for the Palestinian people and their fair cause. A French military jet believed to be carrying ailing Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat landed Friday afternoon at an airfield outside Paris, witnesses said. Arafat was being brought to France for urgent treatment of a serious but undisclosed illness. He has been sick for two weeks, and blood tests revealed he has a low platelet count. He was to be taken immediately to the Hospital d'Instruction des Armees de Percy in southwest of Paris. The facility is a military hospital with a major trauma center but also specializes in the treatment of blood disorders, said Christian Estripeau, head of communications for military health services. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon spoke with his Palestinian counterpart Thursday and agreed in principle to permit the ailing Yasser Arafat to be flown abroad for medical treatment, an Israeli official said. The Palestinian Prime Minister, Ahmed Qurei, called Sharon late Wednesday, after Arafat's health deteriorated sharply. It was the first conversation between the two men in several months. Qurei asked Sharon for permission, in principle, to let Arafat seek medical Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat was flown to Paris for treatment of a serious illness Friday. At daybreak Friday, Arafat, wearing a gray fur hat and an olive-colored jacket, was helped into a Jordanian military helicopter outside his headquarters. He was accompanied by his wife, Suha, 42, who had rushed to his side from exile in Paris. "I will be back soon, God willing. I'll see you soon," Arafat told aides during a stopover at a Jordanian military base, according to Ata Kheiry, Deputy Chief of the Palestinian mission in Jordan. Blood tests have revealed Arafat has a low platelet count,but doctors said they need to run more tests to find the cause. In lifting its travel ban, Israel promised it would allowArafat to return. From Ramallah, Arafat was flown to a Jordanian military base, and from there transferred to a French hospital plane. Senior Palestinian officials were to hold a first round of meetings Saturday, but Arafat did not name a stand-in during his absence. Arafat has persistently refused to appoint a successor. "We admit that things will not be easy," said Yasser Abed Rabbo, a former Cabinet minister and Arafat confidant, "but we will try our best for full coordination ... and we will consult with president Arafat on the important issues." The Bush administration, which has also tried to sideline Arafat, said it hopes he gets proper medical care. "This is not a political matter for us," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said. "This is a matter of seeing that an ill person gets the medical care they need for health." Arafat had been a virtual prisoner in Ramallah for nearly three years, confined by Israeli threats, occasional sieges and his own fears of being banished forever. He has remained in the massive, walled compound since December 2001, when Israel destroyed his helicopters after a surge in Palestinian attacks. The following month, Israel placed tanks outside the compound's gates. Earlier it was announced that the Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat will be treated at a military hospital outside Paris, the French Defense Ministry said Friday. Arafat will be taken to the Hopital d'Instruction des Armees de Percy, a military hospital with a major trauma center, a ministry spokesman said. Christian Estripeau, head of communications for military health services, said Percy, which opened in February 1996, is one of nine military hospitals in France. It has 430 beds and a staff of 1,200, including 110 physicians. Although a military facility, it is open to civilians. "It was the hospital that seemed best suited to the needs of Mr. Arafat," said Estripeau. An ailing Yasser Arafat performed Muslim prayers before dawn Thursday and ate a light breakfast, but his condition remained serious and a team of doctors flying in from Arab countries will decide whether he needs to be transferred from his compound to a hospital, aides said. On Wednesday evening, the 75-year-old leader's persistent two-week illness had taken a sudden turn for the worse. Arafat vomited after eating soup, then collapsed and was unconscious for about 10 minutes, a bodyguard said. Aides urgently summoned doctors from Jordan and Egypt, and Arafat's wife, Suha came to the West Bank from Tunis to be by his side. Mrs. Arafat lives in Paris, and has not seen her husband since 2001. Arafat performed pre-dawn prayers and later had cornflakes for breakfast, said Monib al-Masri, a long-time friend of Arafat who visited the Palestinian leader Thursday. "He prayed and he is fully awake," al-Masri told The Associated Press. Palestinian Cabinet minister Saeb Erekat said doctors arriving from abroad, including teams from Jordan and Egypt, would decide whether Arafat needs to be moved from his headquarters to a hospital. The Jordanian team, including Arafat's personal physician, Dr. Ashraf Kurdi, crossed into the West Bank before noon.