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Arafat's health appears to improve
RAMALLAH, West Bank  (AP)  An ailing Yasser Arafat performed Muslim prayers before dawn Thursday, but his condition remained serious and a team of doctors flying in from Arab countries will decide whether he needs to be transferred from his compound to a hospital, aides said.
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's health has worsened according to a Palestinian official close to Arafat.
AFP file photo
Arafat's condition appeared to improve overnight, and Palestinian Cabinet minister Saeb Erekat said the Palestinian leader was stable. Arafat woke up at 3:30 a.m., prayed and chatted with aides, Erekat said.
  THE ARAFAT FILE
Born: Aug. 24, 1929. First name means "easy-going." Gives his birthplace as Jerusalem; birth certificate says Cairo.
Education: 1956, Civil engineering degree, Cairo University.
Family: Wife, Suha, 41, lives in Paris with daughter Zahwa.
Quote: "There is no resignation as a revolutionary. You have either the choice to win, or be killed as a martyr."
Important dates: Co-founded Al Fatah, 1957; increased guerilla activities following Six-Day War, 1967; named exec. chairman, Palestine Liberation Organization, 1969; backs Iraq in 1990 Gulf War.
Luck: 1992, walked away from plane crash in the Libyan desert.
Honors: 1974, spoke before U.N. General Assembly, wearing holster and bearing olive branch; 1994, shares Nobel Peace Prize with Israeli officials.
Source: USATODAY.com research
Fearing for Arafat's health, scores of top Palestinian officials had descended late Wednesday on the sandbagged, partially demolished compound where he has been confined for 2 years. (Related story: Arafat's health crisis prompts questions )
Communications Minister Azzam Ahmed said that Palestinian leaders had asked all the members of Arafat's Fatah party living abroad to come to Ramallah.
"We are preparing ourselves for everything possible," he told the Al-Jazeera satellite television station.
Arafat was eating soup during a meeting with Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia, former Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas and another official between 8 p.m. and 9 p.m. when he vomited, according to a bodyguard who was in the compound at the time.
Arafat was taken to the clinic inside the compound, where he collapsed and fell unconscious for about 10 minutes, the guard said. His doctors were urgently summoned, and a sense of fear fell over the Palestinian leadership.
An official in Arafat's office said the Palestinian leader had created a special committee composed of Qureia, Abbas, and Salim Zaanoun, head of the Palestinian National Council, to run the Palestinian Leadership Organization and the Palestinian Authority while he is ill.
But when asked if Arafat had set up such a committee, Arafat spokesman Nabil Abu Rdeneh said: "Nothing like that."
White House spokesman Scott McClellan, traveling in Michigan with President Bush, said U.S. officials were monitoring the situation.
In Israel, defense officials met Thursday to prepare for the possibility of Arafat's death. Israel has drawn up contingency plans, including how to deal with possible riots and prevent Palestinian attempts to bury Arafat in Jerusalem.
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was to meet later in the day with his defense minister, Shaul Mofaz.
Speaking in radio and TV interviews, Israeli officials, who have ostracized Arafat as a leader tainted by terror, speculated about the repercussions should Arafat die.
A Palestinian Authority without Arafat could become a partner for peace, said Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom. "We always said we would be willing to talk to a Palestinian leadership that would be willing once and for all to bring an end to the bloodshed," Shalom told Israel Radio.
A senior official in Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's office said the Palestinians had asked Israel to allow foreign doctors to treat Arafat.
"The prime minister immediately instructed the security officials and others involved to facilitate the transfer and any medical equipment and facilities Arafat might need," the official said, adding that Israel would also allow Arafat to be transferred to any medical facility in the world.
Israeli security officials said Arafat's wife, Suha, who lives in France with their young daughter, was expected to arrive Thursday.
Arafat has been ill for two weeks, but reports about his ailment have varied widely.
Palestinian officials said he had the flu. Israeli officials speculated he might have stomach cancer, but two of his doctors said Wednesday a blood test and a biopsy of tissue from his digestive tract showed no evidence of that.
On Tuesday, a hospital official said Arafat was suffering from a large gallstone. The gallstone, while extremely painful, is not life-threatening and can be easily treated, the official said.
Dr. Ashraf Kurdi, head of the Jordanian team summoned to Ramallah, told The Associated Press that he was urgently summoned to Arafat's compound but was given no details by Arafat's aides.
"I tried to get a medical report from them. I couldn't get anything," he said.
Israeli officials speculated that Arafat had suffered a stroke. He has shown symptoms of Parkinson's disease since the late 1990s.
Arafat has not left his compound since 2002 for fear of being snatched by Israeli troops. Israel, which accuses Arafat of stoking violent attacks against it, has previously said Arafat was free to leave the compound and even travel abroad, but it would not guarantee he would be allowed to return.
During Arafat's long confinement, doctors equipped two rooms with medical equipment, including X-ray, ultrasound machines and emergency resuscitation gear.
Arafat's health crisis has highlighted how unprepared the Palestinians are for their leader's death, making a chaotic transition period all but inevitable. Arafat has refused to groom a successor, fearing an impatient protege could turn on him.
No leader of Arafat's stature and popularity is waiting in the wings, said Palestinian legislator Hanan Ashrawi. "It's only natural to expect that there would be either a power struggle or there would be a loss of cohesion," she said.
Rival security chiefs are already battling each other in the streets, and analysts said it could take years for a leader to emerge, hurting prospects for an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal.
On paper, at least, a path of succession has been charted.
The parliament speaker would replace Arafat as Palestinian Authority president for 60 days, until elections are held.
However, current speaker Rauhi Fattouh is a bland backbencher uncertain to hold on during a turbulent transition period, and timely elections appear unlikely.
Arafat's other post, as PLO chief, would be filled, at least temporarily, by his deputy in the organization, Mahmoud Abbas, a former prime minister who resigned last year after power struggles with Arafat.
Barry Rubin, an Israeli biographer of Arafat, predicts it would take several years before a real leader emerges.
"As long as the battle goes on, no one can make decisions, especially moderate or compromise decisions," Rubin said. "This means the chances of a negotiated peace are close to zero."
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