JERUSALEM – Palestinian officials offered conflicting accounts Sunday of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat’s health, with some aides reporting that his spirits and physical abilities were improving and others, who declined to be quoted by name, saying that his condition remained critical.
French doctors are expected to issue a preliminary report on Ararfat’s medical condition by midweek, according to Palestinian officials.
Saeb Erekat, a Palestinian cabinet minister, said that despite announcements to the contrary, doctors have not yet ruled out any disease or illnesses as the cause of Arafat’s declining health. A Palestinian official reported earlier that doctors had ruled out leukemia.
“We should not jump to conclusions,” Erekat said. “Let the doctors in France announce this themselves. They are the only ones that know what is going on.”
Arafat, 75, flew to Paris on Friday for a battery of medical tests after a precipitous decline in his health. After his health deteriorated suddenly on Wednesday, some aides reported he was near death.
Erekat said he had received reports from aides in Paris that Arafat read from the Quran on Sunday morning for the first time in 10 days, walked around his room and telephoned his finance minister, Salam Fayyad, in Ramallah.
“He is not suffering from any serious problem,” Arafat’s spokesman, Nabil Abu Irdineh, told reporters Sunday in Paris. “His situation is curable. He will recover soon. It is better than expected.”
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said Sunday that Israel will not allow Arafat to be buried in Jerusalem if he dies. The Palestinian leader has said he wants to be buried at the Jerusalem holy site known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as the Haram as-Sharif, or Noble Sanctuary.
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