JERUSALEM (AFP) - Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat was given Israeli clearance for medical reasons to leave the West Bank town of Ramallah where he has been confined since December 2001, public television said.
The station interrupted programming to announce that Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz had given the authorisation for Arafat to receive medical treatment due to declining health, after consulting the Israeli security services.
The defence ministry, contacted by AFP, said it could not confirm or deny the report.
A team of Tunisian doctors who examined the 75-year-old Palestinian leader believe he is suffering from an acute bout of influenza, sources close to Arafat said Sunday.
An aide added that a decision by the veteran leader, whom Israel has confined to virtual house arrest for nearly three years, to continue fasting during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan was hampering his recovery.
"The fact that he is continuing his fast does not help him recover. The doctors are also saying that the lack of sunlight or fresh air is also a factor," the aide told AFP.
The team of medics from Tunisia carried out their examination of Arafat, whose health has been the subject of extensive speculation, at his West Bank headquarters in Ramallah on Saturday night.
Arafat suffered from gallstones last year when he was also reported to be suffering from cancer.
The Israeli daily Yediot Aharnot reported Sunday that Arafat could seek Israeli guarantees to allow him to return to his base in the event that he decides to undergo surgery outside Ramallah.
"If his condition deteriorates, we`ll have ourselves a problem," said an Israeli political official. "We might find ourselves accused of preventing the Palestinian Authority chairman from receiving medical treatment."
10/25/2004 - 18:11 GMT - AFP