[JNSA]

Yasser Arafat 'very, very sick'
A team of doctors has arrived at Yasser Arafat's headquarters in Ramallah where the ailing Palestinian leader's health has significantly deteriorated.
One cabinet minister, who asked not be identified, told Reuters that Mr Arafat, 75, was "very, very sick" as a crowd gathered in the town outside.

He is said to have been suffering from a bout of flu as well as a gallstone, thought to be easily treatable.

However, tests this week reportedly showed up no major illnesses.

A senior adviser to the leader, Nabil Abu Rudeina, confirmed that doctors were examining the 75-year-old leader late on Wednesday.

"A team of Tunisian and Palestinian doctors is examining the president," Mr Abu Rudeina said in a statement read out to journalists in front of the compound.

Unidentified officials also told reporters that Mahmoud Abbas, Mr Arafat's deputy leader in the PLO, and Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia were at his bedside.

Hospital offer

A report on Israeli radio that Mr Arafat had lost consciousness was quickly denied by his staff.

Israel has again offered to allow Mr Arafat to leave his compound for surgery in Ramallah, if needed - an offer rejected on Tuesday.

Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz renewed permission on Wednesday night for him to make the four-minute journey to hospital and also allowed Jordanian doctors to come and examine him, Israel Radio reports.

He has been effectively confined to the compound by the Israeli army since 2001.

The Israeli government maintains a position that Mr Arafat can leave the West Bank if he wants, but his return cannot be guaranteed.

It accuses him of fomenting violence in the Palestinian intifada, an allegation Mr Arafat denies.

'All-clear'

Mr Arafat had a medical test under anaesthetic on Monday at his compound.

He had been suffering bouts of vomiting and stomach pain.

Officials said the gastroscopy showed he had no major illness and did not need hospital treatment.

"[Doctors] are satisfied there are no serious complications, but that he will be much better in the coming few days," Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath said on Tuesday.

A morte de Arafat, a ocorrer num momento como este, em que Israel se prepara para retirar, não augura nada de bom para a estabilidade da Palestina...

fonte: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3960237.stm

[JNSA]

Arafat heads to Paris with medics
Ailing Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat is on his way to France for urgent medical treatment for what doctors say is a low blood platelet count.
Mr Arafat, 75, was taken by helicopter from his half-ruined compound in the West Bank town of Ramallah to Jordan, where he boarded a flight to Paris.

Palestinian ministers said he was "very frail" but it was a temporary setback.

The Palestinian Authority, the prime minister and legislative council will take over leadership in his absence.

The French government jet carrying Mr Arafat and his doctors was expected to arrive in France at about midday (1000 GMT).

The plane had to skirt around Israeli airspace on the four-hour flight because France has no permanent overflight agreement, the French defence ministry said.

French officials said Mr Arafat would be taken to the Percy military hospital in Clamart, near Paris.

Wearing a military uniform, Mr Arafat waved to officials and bodyguards as he left his Ramallah compound on Friday morning for the first time in two-and-a-half years.

A large crowd of chanting supporters surrounded the helicopter, and hundreds more watched from nearby rooftops, as Mr Arafat left for the Jordanian capital Amman on the first leg of his journey.

Palestinian Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath, who travelled with Mr Arafat to Amman, said doctors needed to investigate exactly what was wrong with him.

He said Mr Arafat had become "very weak, quite frail", with significant weight loss over 16 days of illness.

He insisted his leader's absence would be temporary, saying: "He is a sick man who needs treatment. That is the first thing on our mind, and for that he should be given time in hospital."

Mr Shaath said all the institutions were in place to run matters in Mr Arafat's absence.

During a short stop in Amman, Mr Arafat was greeted by Jordan's Foreign Minister Hani al-Mulqi, the Palestinian, French and Jordanian ambassadors and the UN chief delegate in Jordan.

'Return assured'

In Ramallah, Mr Arafat's mother-in-law Reemonda al-Tawil said the Palestinian leader was in good spirits but people were nonetheless filled with fear.

She said: "We all hope that he will come back safe to us. It's very moving, everybody is crying.

"He is more than a spiritual leader - he is a father, he is everything to us."

Mr Arafat was accompanied by his wife, Suha, who had arrived in Ramallah from Paris a day earlier to see her husband for the first time in four years.

Israel has said it will not hinder Mr Arafat's return to the West Bank after his treatment. Israeli sources told the BBC they were treating the matter as a humanitarian issue.

The BBC's Barbara Plett says Israel, which has long held Mr Arafat responsible for militant violence, is probably keen not to be seen as responsible in any way for the death of the Palestinian leader.

Mr Arafat's doctor, Ashraf Kurdi, said the veteran leader was suffering from low blood platelets and needed further tests.

He insisted that Mr Arafat had not been poisoned and was not suffering from leukaemia.

Washington has said it hopes Mr Arafat will get the "medical care that he needs to return to health".

Palestinian officials on Thursday released video of their leader sitting with doctors.

Dressed in a light blue tracksuit and a woolly hat, Mr Arafat is shown wan and pale but smiling.

There is a huge sense among Palestinians that this is a moment of crisis, the BBC's Alan Johnston reports from Gaza City, where he spoke to people in Palestine Square.

He says there is little talk now of Mr Arafat's failings as an administrator and ordinary Palestinians are very much hoping that the old man, as they often call him, will pull through.

fonte: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3963325.stm

[P44]

A situação naquela zona já é a desgraça que se sabe...se ele morrer penso que ainda se agravará mais...os extremistas (de ambos os lados) vão atacar em força...

[FinkenHeinle]

Pelo contrário...


E Deus que me perdoe por falar isto, mas se Arafat morrer, a Paz terá a sua chance...

Apesar de ser até certo ponto contrário ao Sharon, ele está dando vários sinais no sentido de renegociar a Paz com grupos extremistas. E Arafat, ora, um velho guerrilheiro, só atrapalha a paz...

[Ricardo Nunes]

O FinkenHeinle tocou num ponto interessante.

É verdade que Arafat representa hoje em dia uma ala mais moderada, mas sem qualquer controlo real da população palestiniana. Contudo é público o atrito existente entre os 2 líderes - Sharon e Arafat - que muitas vezes apenas atrapalhou uma tentativa de proceso de paz que já por si é bastante confusa.

Não sei até que ponto uma abdicação de Arafat fosse benéfica para o processo de paz, mas acredito nessa possibilidade.
De salientar também, e espanto-me por não ter sido aqui comentado, a aprovação por parte do parlamento isrealita da retirada dos colonatos judeus. É uma medida importantíssima sem pararelo na história. Uma decisão política muito corajosa por parte de Sharon que arrisca a separação da sua coligação.

Vamos ver o que nos reservam os próximos 2 anos.

[papatango]

aprovação por parte do parlamento isrealita da retirada dos colonatos judeus. É uma medida importantíssima sem pararelo na história

É sem duvida uma decisão importante. Mas o problema principal reside não na faixa de Gaza, mas sim na Cisjordânia, que mais parece um queijo suiço quando se vê o mapa dos colonatos ilegais. Além do mais há a situação do muro, construido no território dos outros.

Acho que a situação não tem emenda.
Vão acabar se exterminando uns aos outros

Cumprimentos

[fgomes]

O problema com a morte de Arafat é o vazio de poder que poderá haver. A corrupção e a incompetência da Autoridade Nacional Palestiniana já levou a confrontos entre várias das suas forças de segurança e uma guerra civil palestiniana é um cenário que não se pode excluir.

[P44]

Pois...acho que por mais voltas que se derem, este problema nunca terá solução, tal o ódio entre judeus e palestinianos :?