RAMALLAH, West Bank, Oct 26 (AFP) - Yasser Arafat's medics flatly denied Tuesday that the 75-year-old Palestinian leader needed hospital treatment after Israel gave clearance for him to be treated outside his West Bank headquarters.
Israel's defence ministry said late Monday that Arafat, who has been under virtual house arrest for nearly three years, would be allowed to leave his headquarters to be examined in a Ramallah hospital.
But one of Arafat's medics told AFP that the veteran leader would not require any hospital treatment, insisting that he was merely suffering from a bout of flu which had been compounded by his decision to continue fasting during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
"President Arafat is only suffering from very strong flu and because he is insisting on continuing with his fast it is taking a longer time to recover," the doctor told AFP on condition of anonymity.
"There is no need for him to go to hospital. These are just Israeli rumours," he added.
Other Palestinian sources said that reports about his ill health had been exaggerated, saying that he has been continuing to work as usual and not confined to his bed.
Arafat has been dismissed as an obstacle to peace by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon who has made various threats to kill him, and has only been allowed to leave his headquarters once in almost three years.
But Israel is also intensely wary of the backlash to Arafat's death, whatever the circumstances.
Arafat has a team of three doctors on call at his headquarters known as the Muqataa, but speculation about his health grew over the weekend when a team of Tunisian medics were flown in to carry out tests.
Sources close to the Palestinian leader said he had undergone a gastroscopy -- an internal examination of the gullet and stomach -- at his headquarters, which revealed nothing abnormal.
Arafat's illness appears to have led to a reconciliation with his former prime minister Mahmud Abbas who met with the Palestinian Authority leader to inquire about his health on Monday night, officials said.
It was the first meeting between the two men since Abbas quit after a power struggle in September last year.
In an editorial in the official Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, editor-in-chief Hafez Al-Barghuti bemoaned the absence of "any official statement which could have dispelled the multiple rumours about President Arafat's health."
"The rumours have spread rapidly and caused profound unease for people who have not been explained the reality of the situation."
Arafat has a history of health problems. With a tendency to shake slightly, he has been rumoured to suffer from Parkinson's disease, but his physicians have claimed the trembling is caused by "nervous tension".
In 1992, he underwent brain surgery in Amman to remove a blood clot which formed soon after he survived a plane crash in Libya.
Last year Arafat also suffered from flu and gallstones when he was also reported to be suffering from cancer, but no arrangements were made for external medical treatment.
Any hospital spell for Arafat, however brief, would be only the second time he has left the Muqataa since December 2001 -- following a tour of Bethlehem and Jenin in early 2002 after a massive Israeli military operation.
Israel subsequently refused to allow Arafat to attend Christmas mass in Bethlehem in December 2002 and 2003. The Jewish state also banned the former globe-trotter from taking part in Arab summits.
Israel's top-selling Yediot Aharonot daily reported Tuesday that the decision to allow Arafat to leave the Muqataa had been taken by Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz after talks with both army Chief of Staff Moshe Yaalon and the head of the Shin Beth internal security service, Avi Dichter.
Approval was given as "there is reason to believe that if something happens to Arafat in the meantime, Israel will be blamed for having prevented him from receiving adequate medical attention," an official was quoted as saying.
10/26/2004 11:46 GMT - AFP