Arafat 'has digestion problems'

Tests on Yasser Arafat showed problems with his digestion, but the Palestinian leader has recovered sufficiently to undergo further examinations that could not be performed when he was first rushed to France, an aide said.

Arafat, 75, felt well enough to follow the US election yesterday and over the past two days was able to talk with doctors, colleagues and heads of state, Palestinian officials said.

Nevertheless, there was still no public information about the cause of his dramatic deterioration in health.

Leila Shahid, the Palestinian envoy to France, said tests had shown an improvement in Arafat’s white blood cell count but also “persistent abnormalities” in indicators for digestive function. She gave no details.

Israel military intelligence’s latest judgment is that doctors have not completed their diagnosis, but are considering that Arafat has either a viral stomach disorder that can be treated or some form of stomach cancer, according to an Israeli official. Leukaemia had been ruled out, the official said.

Shahid said initials tests “confirmed an abnormal blood count, high white blood cell count and low platelet count and ruled out the diagnosis of leukaemia”.

Doctors are still investigating.

“President Arafat’s condition has improved sufficiently for him to undergo tests that would not have been performed upon admission,” Shahid said, reading from a statement she said was drafted by the French military hospital treating Arafat and released with his consent.

“For the past 48 hours, he has been able to converse with his doctors and close relatives, colleagues and heads of state.”

Arafat, who has been ill for three weeks, took a turn for the worse on October 27, collapsing and briefly losing consciousness. Initial blood tests performed while he was still in Ramallah in the West Bank revealed a low blood platelet count. Platelets are blood components that aid clotting.

Doctors gave Arafat a platelet transfusion shortly after he was urgently transported from his battered Ramallah headquarters to the Percy military hospital in south-west Paris on Friday.

A leading Israeli newspaper yesterday cited Western intelligence sources as saying Arafat’s life was in “no immediate danger” and that he was suffering from a very serious infection.

The report in the Yediot Ahronot daily said the origin of the infection had not been identified, but that doctors hoped to complete testing by tomorrow.