Arafat recovering but cause of decline in health unexplained

AN ailing Yasser Arafat was in the fourth day of emergency treatment yesterday at a French military hospital specialising in blood disorders, but the cause of his precipitous decline in health remained unexplained.

Palestinian officials say their leader's condition has improved markedly since he was rushed from his battered Ramallah headquarters in the West Bank to Paris on Friday and that he does not suffer from leukaemia or cancer. However, that has not been publicly confirmed by French physicians involved in his treatment.

On Sunday, Palestinians said, Mr Arafat was healthy enough to telephone colleagues, read telegrams from world leaders, and eat a normal breakfast.

Palestinian Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath said all types of cancer had been ruled out.

However, Israel Army Radio yesterday quoted a senior military intelligence official as saying Israel assumes Mr Arafat suffers from either a severe viral infection or cancer.

Mr Arafat has been ill for two weeks and took a turn for the worse Wednesday, collapsing and briefly losing consciousness. Initial blood tests performed in the West Bank revealed a low blood platelet count.

French physicians at the Hopital d'Instruction des Armees de Percy, southwest of Paris, gave Mr Arafat a platelet transfusion shortly after his arrival. Platelets are blood components that aid clotting. A low count indicates a possible problem with the bone marrow, where blood cells are made.

With leukaemia seemingly excluded as a diagnosis, doctors were trying to determine whether Mr Arafat was suffering from poisoning, a viral infection or some other disease, Palestinian aides said on condition of anonymity on Sunday. French President Jacques Chirac called Mr Arafat to ask about his health, Abu Rdeneh said. He said Mr Arafat thanked Mr Chirac for the French care. In a sign of Palestinians from all factions expressing their solidarity with Mr Arafat, despite bitter rivalries, Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal also called Sunday to wish Mr Arafat well but did not speak to him directly, aides to Mr Arafat said.