Arafat has suffered heart attack, admits aide

[Aidoneus]

Arafat has suffered heart attack, admits aide

Officials tried to hide condition of president threatened by Israel

Chris McGreal in Jerusalem
Wednesday October 8, 2003
The Guardian

Yasser Arafat has suffered a mild heart attack but the Palestinian leadership has sought to keep his health problems secret for fear it will "create panic".

The 74-year-old Palestinian president, who is suffering from Parkinson's disease, disappeared from public view last week and re-emerged at the weekend looking extremely ill. His face was pale and pinched, he had lost weight and he was almost inaudible. He had trouble standing for more than a few minutes at a time.

The Palestinian press said he was suffering from flu. But Palestinian officials told the Guardian that Mr Arafat had suffered a heart attack last week. "Although he has had a slight heart attack, the doctors say he will make a full recovery. He is in full control. There is nothing to worry about," said a close aide to Mr Arafat, who did not wish to be named.

Asked why it had not been made public at the time, the official said that it would "have created panic at a critical time when the Israelis are threatening Arafat's life".

--snip--

http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,2763,1058298,0...

[Aidoneus]

1. oh, this was in LBN also..

lock this one or keep it in both?

[Darranar]

2. This could be a good thing...

if Arafat dies of natural causes, Sharon will have to find another scapegoat.

It's not like he's any real loss, and this way his death won't enrage half the militants in the Middle East.

[DuctapeFatwa]

3. I guess if you think lots of people will believe it's natural causes

Would Sharon be able to convince people outside Israel and the US?

[Darranar]

4. That's an interesting question...

and a tough problem.

Are you implying that it isn't natural causes that caused this?

[DuctapeFatwa]

8. I'm implying that there may be people who would doubt Sharon's word

on that and many other topics, that just happens to be one that could be a teensy bit sensitive...

[Darranar]

9. Well, I agree with you there...

I was just wondering if you thought the Mossad had orchestrated this.

[DuctapeFatwa]

11. I regret that Mossad show no sign of changing their long-standing policy

of not confiding in me.

It is unfortunately the one issue on which they seem to be in total agreement with every other government and intel agency on earth.

[Darranar]

14. Guesses, not certainties...

whatever.

[DuctapeFatwa]

19. Seriously, I think one of the reasons it would be such a disaster

is that Arafat was old and sick even before the Intifada started.

Having said that, it is unlikely that his physician is happy with the conditions his patient has been living in recently...

So both sides would have a valid argument, and neither side would have an irrefutable one.

[Aidoneus]

13. I might otherwise agree, but..

...this isn't Sharon talking, it is a Guardian columnist. They're decent, if not necessarily the most penetrating analysts on subtle matters, but not widely known as a Likudnik mouthpiece.

It might've slipped under the radar, but Arafat is indeed old:--old men often get sick and die at some point, and they did that before Sharon's reign of violence began decades ago.

...on the other hand, Arafat may have picked up Arutz Sheva's editorial section and dropped from that--that I won't rule out.

[DuctapeFatwa]

16. LOL you have a point there!

At the end of the day, though, it really doesn't matter what my opinion is - what and whom Mr and Ms Gaza believe is another story...

[Fight_n_back]

5. If Arafat were struck by lightning

or attacked by a tiger on Al Jazeera in front of thousands of witnesses, it would stilll be blamed on Israel.

[tinnypriv]

6. Depends if the tiger had been to Mossad headquarters recently

[DuctapeFatwa]

10. Hmm, has anyone run a DNA on Montecore lately?

Maybe we will hear about some "Israeli art students" getting stopped on a Nevada highway pulling an unusually long U-Haul vehicle from which muffled growls can be heard....but after a few days, the follow-up story will report that everything checked out, and the art students - and special cargo - were able to make their flight to Tel Aviv after all!

[Fight_n_back]

12. Funny that you mention

the Israeli Art Students infinitely more than the Saudi Arabian pilots.

[DuctapeFatwa]

17. Are you outing Montecore as an Al Qaeda tiger?

Who new? He came from Mexico, you know.

Be very careful at lunch tomorrow.

Might be a sleeper cell back in the kitchen...

[tinnypriv]

15. You've gotta stop following that white rabbit Neo

Tiger/rabbit, whatever.

[Darranar]

7. By some, yes...

not by me.

[LastDemInIdaho]

18. What a shame if arafat goes out early

Maybe an anti-terrorist supporter will take his place if all goes well.

If arafat was not such a coward to confront the hamas and other terror groups then perhaps he would be considered a leader instead of a coward.

[rini]

20. what they haven't said is he has retired and

Moved TO MIAMI BEACH where he claims land held by Jewish retirees

( Miami )--In a move that has significantly altered the political landscape of the Middle East, PLO Chairman Yassir Arafat last Saturday secretly announced his retirement and quickly moved to Miami Beach, Florida. Almost immediately, Arafat claimed 39% of the land owned by Hillel House on the campus of The University of Miami, The Shul at Bal Harbour, as well as land occupied by the Moses Mendelssohn Community Retirement Center situated in the trendy South Beach section of the city.

Arafat, however, got more than he bargained for when he attempted to occupy the Retirement Center land. His military incursion was met with fierce resistance by members of the South Beach Hadassah who were meeting in the Center at the time. Reports are still sketchy, but it appears that Arafat and his forces sustained serious casualties and had to abandon their attack when elderly Hadassah members hurled Mah Jongg tiles at the Palestinian terrorists.

The European Parliament quickly denounced the Hadassah group's inflammatory use of Mah Jongg tiles, and decided to consider a proposal to send peacekeeping troops to Miami Beach to establish "safe zones" for Palestinians. Arafat is going to appear before the General Assembly of the United Nations to urge the passing of Resolution 843, making ALL Jewish settlements in Florida illegal.

Hannah Ashwari has been invited by twenty American Universities to discuss the historic right of Palestinians to all the land now held "illegally by the Jews in Florida ." She says that the Palestinians have been forced out by the Jews since the 1940s, and the land rightfully belongs to them. She blames the Jews for converting the Florida swamps into settlements, housing developments and malls that have destroyed the historic evidence for Muslim/Palestinian existence in Florida since 1000 BCE, 1600 years before Muhammed.

Last report sighted Arafat and his guards in the Bal Harbour shopping center looking for pink flamingo bed sheets.