Posted on 10/30/2004 1:35:23 PM PDT by Libloather
PLO meets as Arafat awaits results
From Lamia Radi in Ramallah
October 31, 2004
FORMER Palestinian premier Mahmud Abbas urged Palestinian forces to unite overnight, pledging loyalty to Yasser Arafat, as he moved to the political centre stage with the strongman sick in hospital.
Mr Abbas spoke after chairing the first Palestine Liberation Organisation executive meeting without Mr Arafat, amid speculation that the Palestinian leadership could fall into chaos should the veteran leader never return.
"We call on all our people and factions to unite and work together in responsible fashion to protect our destiny and homeland," said Mr Abbas, who is standing in as PLO chairman while Arafat is treated for a mystery disease.
Initial tests at a top Paris military hospital had ruled out leukaemia, said Palestinian representative in France, Leila Shahid.
"For the moment, the doctors have excluded any trace of leukaemia," she said outside the hospital. "We can say his general condition ... is much better both physically and psychologically."
Hosni al-Aatari, head of the hospital in the West Bank city of Ramallah, where Arafat was barricaded in his headquarters by the Israeli military for three years, backed up the findings.
"If it had been leukaemia, we would have known from the first day because leukaemia is easy to diagnose. The decision to send Arafat to France was taken in order to test for different kinds of blood disorders other than cancer."
He also said tests had been run to see if Mr Arafat was poisoned.
"We looked for that, but we didn't discover anything, but if it was a rare poison, it is possible the doctors in Paris could identify that."
Palestinian negotiations minister Saeb Erakat said: "We were told to wait for the next 48 hours by the French doctors and not to jump to any conclusions and they will give us a full report when they finish the tests."
The French defence ministry said doctors had banned any visitors from seeing the weakened veteran leader for the next few days.
It is the first time in almost three years that Mr Arafat, who has become a symbol of the Palestinian struggle for statehood, has been allowed to leave his Ramallah base, a sign of the gravity of his condition.
Back in the West Bank, Mr Abbas, who resigned as premier in September 2003 after a series of confrontations with Mr Arafat, hoped that the 75-year-old leader "would soon return to his people and his cause who very much still need him".
He said the PLO executive committee would hold regular meetings with all Palestinian factions, including Islamists, to guarantee national unity and that contact would be maintained with Mr Arafat.
"He (Mr Abbas) is the most senior official now after Yasser Arafat because he is the general secretary of the executive committee of the PLO," prominent Palestinian deputy Hanan Ashrawi said.
Symbolically, the iconic leader's chair was left empty at the PLO meeting.
Mr Abbas sat to the right, with prime minister Ahmed Qorei, who is handling the day-to-day affairs of the Palestinian Authority, to the left.
Ziad Amr, a former minister under Mr Abbas, expressed doubt that the PLO would be able to prevent a "constitutional void" in Arafat's absence.
AFP
One, just one bunker-buster, in the right place...
Must've been a nail-bitter of a meeting.
Don't they know Arafat is demented? I guess they've always known...
> Must've been a nail-bitter of a meeting.
Think of orcs about to fight amongst themselves
over whether or not to eat the hobbits.
When Arafat is gone, a new terrorist will take his place. The whole regime known as the Palestinian Authority/PLO terrorist group, must be removed.
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