Arafat: Doctors to carry out new tests

Having ruled out leukaemia, French doctors were trying for a third day to determine what was causing the dramatic deterioration in Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat’s health.

Palestinian officials gave conflicting reports on when results from further tests were expected.

Mohammed Rashid, a close Arafat aide, said results were due Wednesday, but Palestinian Cabinet minister Saeb Erekat said Arafat’s doctors would issue a medical report in the next 48 hours.

But “Arafat does not have leukaemia,” said Rashid. ”It’s been ruled out.”

Palestinian foreign minister Nabil Shaath said 75-year-old Arafat’s condition has improved markedly since he was taken on Friday from the West Bank to a French military hospital. Arafat ate cereal, milk and tea, said Shaath, who was speaking from Ramallah on the West Bank.

“He’s much better, really much better, and more cheerful,” Shaath said. “He’s more lively. He’s less tired and we are awaiting a final assessment made by the French doctors about the diagnosis.”

Shaath said examinations had ruled out leukaemia “or any other cancer”. However, no doctors or other specialists have publicly confirmed that conclusion. The only problem that has been announced is a low blood platelet count.

“There are many tests to be done in the coming days to find out the reason why the blood platelets are decreasing,” Shaath said.

Platelets are blood components that aid clotting. A low count indicates a possible problem with the bone marrow, where blood cells are made. There are many causes of platelet decline, ranging in severity from minor to life-threatening.

French physicians gave Arafat a transfusion after his transfer to the Hospital d’Instruction des Armees de Percy, a military training hospital southwest of Paris that specialises in blood disorders and trauma care.

Arafat has been ill for two weeks with what was initially described as bad flu. The Palestinian leader’s symptoms included vomiting and diarrhoea. He took a turn for the worse on Wednesday when he collapsed and briefly lost consciousness.

With leukaemia excluded as a diagnosis, doctors were trying to determine whether Arafat was suffering from poisoning or some other disease, Palestinian aides said.

However, Arafat’s doctors said that toxicology tests on the Palestinian leader turned up no traces of poison. Arafat spokesman Nabil Abu Rdeneh said Arafat is expected to recover and spent part of today catching up on international and Arab events and reading summaries of telegrams from world leaders who wished him well.

“He is not suffering from any serious problem. His situation is curable. He will recover very soon. It is better than expected,” Rdeneh said.

In the West Bank, Palestinian Finance Minister Salam Fayyad said Arafat sounded coherent and alert during a five-minute telephone conversation today.

“This phone call is clear proof that President Arafat is fully aware of what is going on around him,” Fayyad said.

In Israel, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said Sunday that Arafat will not be permitted to be buried in Jerusalem if he dies.

The Palestinian leader has said he wants to be buried at the Jerusalem holy site known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as the Haram as-Sharif, or Noble Sanctuary.

Israel has marked a possible burial site for Arafat in the Jerusalem suburb of Abu Dis, in the West Bank, security officials said.

Though hard-line ministers at the meeting asked Sharon to refuse to allow Arafat back into the West Bank, the premier said he was sticking by the commitment to allow Arafat to return from France after treatment.

Senior Palestinian and Israeli leaders held separate meetings today to plan a path forward in Arafat’s absence.

Palestinian officials have convened a series of top meetings in recent days to show that their institutions continue to function, while Israeli officials scrambled to plan for the possibility that the West Bank and Gaza could erupt into chaos if Arafat dies.

Senior intelligence officials and representatives from the foreign and defence ministries briefed the Israeli Cabinet on Arafat’s health and possible scenarios if he becomes incapacitated or dies.

Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said Israel’s army would ”demonstrate restraint” in military operations in the West Bank and Gaza until the Palestinian leadership situation became clear.

“These are days of waiting, and during such days you act perhaps with a bit more caution,” Shalom told Army Radio before the weekly Cabinet meeting.

In an effort to project unity and continuity in the Palestinian Authority, top Palestinian leaders also have held a series of meetings.

Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia, whose efforts to force Arafat to relinquish some power have largely failed, chaired a session of the Palestinian National Security Council. The body, headed by Arafat, commands the most important of the myriad Palestinian security forces.

In a symbolic gesture, Qureia refused to sit at the head of the table - Arafat’s place.