Palestinian President Yasser Arafat was admitted yesterday to a French military hospital near Paris for urgent treatment for what is said to be a potentially fatal blood disorder.
The frail-looking 75-year-old arrived by helicopter from a nearby military airport, where he had landed aboard a French jet from Jordan in an emergency medical evacuation authorized by Israeli authorities.
PHOTO: AP
The Percy military hospital at Clamart, a southwestern Paris suburb, where he was flown is a state-of-the-art facility which specializes in trauma cases and blood illnesses.
It is the first time in three years that Arafat has left his West Bank base, a sign of the gravity of his condition.
French President Jacques Chi-rac, speaking from Rome, said the decision to admit Arafat was because of the country's tradition as a "land of refuge."
"It was natural that France, a land of refuge, would not question the right of the president of the Palestinian Authority to come for medical treatment in our country," Chirac told reporters.
Arafat was initially diagnosed with severe influenza, but one of his doctors said that further tests revealed a disorder in which his white blood cells were destroying blood platelets needed for blood clotting.
Such an illness could signal an advanced stage of cancer, he and other medical specialists said, and could result in internal bleeding.
Arafat's transfer to Paris was the first time he left the confinement of his West Bank compound of Ramallah in three years. He was placed under virtual house arrest there by Israel.
Wearing a dark green military overcoat and a fur hat instead of his trademark keffiyeh headdress, he was taken from the compound by helicopter to Jordan, where he blew kisses to a waiting crowd and chat-ted with officials. Although he walked to the French Dassault Falcon jet largely unassisted, he had to be helped aboard.
Israel, which has threatened to kill Arafat several times, has promised it would not impede the his departure or return to Ramallah after treatment in France.
Palestinian sources said Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia and former premier Mahmoud Abbas would take charge of the Palestinian Authority in Arafat's absence.
Media from around the world have converged on Paris to cover Arafat's arrival. At the military hospital in Clamart, 80 police officers were deployed to provide security for the walled establishment, while more than 100 journalists waited out the front alongside a handful of Arafat supporters holding flowers and Palestinian flags.
Arafat's wife Suha lives in Paris with the couple's nine-year-old daughter Wahwa.
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