Arafat Diagnosed With Stomach Ailment

Thursday, October 9, 2003

(3:03 PM ET)

By Lara Sukhtian

Associated Press Writer

Time Magazine, on its Web site, on Thursday quoted a source inside Arafat's office as saying that a "working diagnosis" was that Arafat had stomach cancer.

RAMALLAH, West Bank -- AP
Yasser Arafat has a minor stomach ailment and is responding well to treatment, two of his doctors said Thursday, denying reports that the wan 74-year-old Palestinian leader suffers from more serious diseases.

Arafat has appeared in poor health in recent days, and aides said he had intestinal flu. His lip tremor was more pronounced than in the past months, and at times he appeared unfocused and dazed, triggering reports and rumors that he had had a heart attack or had stomach cancer or other severe illnesses.

However, his personal physician, Dr. Ashraf al-Kurdi, and gastroenterologist Dr. Ala Toukan, told The Associated Press that those rumors were untrue. Both men examined Arafat at his compound in the West Bank town of Ramallah on Sept. 29.

"President Arafat has a stomach ailment," al-Kurdi said in a telephone interview from Amman, Jordan. "Reports that he had a heart attack or is suffering from stomach cancer are completely untrue."

Reports of Arafat's state of health pushed aside most local broadcast news in Israel on Thursday. Two Israeli TV stations conducted their own interviews with al-Kurdi. Israel's government has labeled Arafat an obstacle to peace and has threatened to "remove" him.
(More: Newsday.com)
2003 © The Associated Press.

Dan