Yasser Arafat arrives in Paris
2004-10-29 14:13
Villacoublay - A French military jet believed to be carrying ailing Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat landed on Friday afternoon at an airfield outside Paris, witnesses said.
Arafat was being brought to France for urgent treatment of a serious but undisclosed illness. He has been sick for two weeks, and blood tests revealed he has a low platelet count.
He was to be taken immediately to the Hopital d'Instruction des Armees de Percy in south-west of Paris.
The facility is a military hospital with a major trauma centre but also specialises in the treatment of blood disorders, said Christian Estripeau, head of communications for military health services.
State-of-the-art facility
Opened in 1996, the hospital is a state-of-the art facility set on a hilltop south-west of Paris, with sweeping views of the capital.
Outside the hospital, a small group of supporters gathered, holding bouquets of flowers and waving Palestinian flags.
"I am waiting for Yasser Arafat to tell him that we are with him," said Fatima Mera, a 35-year-old French woman of Moroccan origin.
"We hope he will leave here and continue the struggle for the Palestinian people."
However, Arafat's presence in France also stirred controversy. Families of French victims of terrorist attacks in Israel plan to ask judicial authorities to question Arafat, attorney Michel Calvo said Friday. The request was to be presented to France's chief anti-terror judge, Jean-Louis Bruguiere.
The pursuit of any criminal probe against Arafat is bound to complicate the French government's diplomatically sensitive decision to provide him with medical treatment.
Doctors say they need to run more tests to find the cause of the low platelet count, but Arafat's personal physician, Dr. Ashraf Kurdi, ruled out leukaemia on Thursday.
Israeli officials have speculated that Arafat has stomach cancer, but his doctors said tests ruled that out. The Palestinian leader has shown symptoms of Parkinson's disease since the late 1990s.
- AP