Arafat Has Brain Surgery to Remove Clot Caused by Plane Crash in April

Yasser Arafat underwent brain surgery Monday to remove blood clots caused by an April plane crash, an operation that underscored the PLO’s dependency on him as its sole leader.

Doctors said they expect him to recover fully.

“He is doing very well,” said Arafat’s private physician, Dr. Ashraf Kurdi. He said the situation had not been life-threatening.

Arafat, 62, has headed the Palestine Liberation Organization for 23 years and has publicly designated no successor. Two of his key lieutenants have been assassinated since 1988, leaving the PLO with no strong candidate to take over.

On Monday, the PLO hastened to calm Palestinians’ fears for their leader.

“I also want to apprise our Palestinian people inside and outside the (Israeli) occupied territories that our leader is in excellent condition and he’ll be back at work in a matter of a few days,” PLO spokesman Farouk Kaddoumi said in a press release carried by Petra, Jordan’s state-run news agency.

“I saw him and talked to him following the operation, and he sounded to me as good as always,” said Yasser Abed-Rabho, a member of the PLO’s executive committee.

Dr. Yousef Ksous, director of medical services at King Hussein Medical Center, said Arafat was in “good, stable condition” after the 90-minute operation performed by the hospital’s chief neurologist, Dr. Adel Shreydeh. Ksous and Kurdi attended.

“We don’t expect any complications,” Ksous told reporters later at a news conference.

Kurdi said Arafat will leave the intensive-care unit today and will be released from the hospital within four days.

Ksous said Arafat underwent checkups Sunday at the medical center after complaining of recurrent headaches in the wake of the April plane crash, which killed three crewmen and left Arafat missing in the Libyan desert for 15 hours.