Arafat 'deteriorating seriously'

Yasser Arafat’s health has deteriorated significantly, Palestinian officials said tonight.

The Palestinian leader is in a French hospital for treatment of an unidentified ailment.

The officials said Arafat had taken a turn for the worse, adding that doctors still did not know the cause.

But Mohammed Dahlan, a former Palestinian security chief in Paris with a group of Arafat aides, denied that Arafat’s condition had worsened.

“The president’s condition is stable,” he told reporters.

The sources confirmed an Israeli TV report that Arafat was in a very serious condition.

They said details would be disclosed at a previously planned news conference scheduled for Thursday afternoon (3pm Irish time).

Arafat, 75, who has been ill for three weeks, was flown to a French military hospital on Friday after passing out briefly at his west Bank headquarters.

He was initially described as having a bad flu, but later diagnosed with having blood and digestive abnormalities. Palestinian officials insist leukaemia has been ruled out, but say doctors were still performing tests to try to reach a diagnosis.

Yesterday, one source who said he had been briefed on Arafat’s status told The Associated Press that the condition was “fatal” – but he gave no further details and the claim could not be confirmed.

Israel’s Channel Two TV reported that the Palestinian leader was moved to an intensive care unit in the hospital outside Paris.

Earlier, the Palestinian envoy to France, Leila Shahid, said Arafat felt well enough to ask about the US presidential election. An aide later issued a statement in Arafat’s name congratulating George Bush on his re-election.

Israeli foreign minister Silvan Shalom said Israel was closely monitoring the health of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and was preparing for the “day after” his death.

“We are tracking his condition very carefully,” he told Israel Radio. “Our goal is to prepare for the day after, if and when he dies.”

Israeli intelligence was widely criticised after it was caught off guard last week when Arafat’s health suddenly deteriorated and he was flown to Paris for treatment.

Although no details are known about Arafat’s ailment, Shalom said his condition “is very serious”. At the same time, he said, “it is too soon to eulogise Yasser Arafat” and Israel expected the picture to clarify within the next week.

Israel believes Arafat may have cancer, or possibly a serious infection, he said. “We are preparing for every eventuality,” he said.