Arafat Reportedly Takes Turn for Worse

Two Palestinian officials said early today that Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat was rushed to intensive care after suffering a setback in a hospital near Paris and was undergoing more tests.

But Arafat’s top aides denied that there had been any setback and accused Israel of spreading rumors. The report first aired on Israel’s Channel Two television.

“These unfounded reports are not coming from French medical teams. These are leaks from the Israeli side,” said Mohammed Dahlan, a former Palestinian security chief.

Haled Salem, Arafat’s top aide, said the medical analysis was “deepening a little bit,” but he remained confident that Arafat would recover. “There are no setbacks,” he said.

Israel Radio reported that Mahmoud Abbas, No. 2 in the hierarchy of Arafat’s Palestine Liberation Organization and his first prime minister, was on his way to Paris this morning.

Earlier, the first two officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that the 75-year-old Arafat’s condition had deteriorated and that doctors still did not know the cause of his illness.

French hospital and military officials refused to comment, but more information was expected at a previously scheduled news conference this morning. Arafat was flown to the French military hospital Friday after passing out briefly at his headquarters in the West Bank city of Ramallah. Doctors have found blood and digestive abnormalities.

Palestinian officials say leukemia or any other form of cancer, as well as any type of poisoning, have been ruled out.

In Israel, speculation has ranged from a viral infection to stomach cancer. Arafat’s brother, Fathi, is hospitalized in Cairo with advanced stomach cancer, doctors there said.