Arafat's health worsens

Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's health worsened yesterday and an ambulance rushed to his West Bank headquarters, medical sources and witnesses said.

Israel Radio said Mr Arafat had lost consciousness, but a senior Palestinian official said that was untrue.

Israel has agreed to let Mr Arafat go to a hospital in the West Bank city of Ramallah if necessary and allow Jordanian doctors to come and examine him, Israel Radio reported later yesterday.

The radio said Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz had renewed permission offered earlier this week for the 75-year-old Arafat to go to hospital in Ramallah.

Palestinian officials have repeatedly said that Mr Arafat is recovering from a bout of "stomach flu", but he has not appeared in public for days, fuelling speculation over the seriousness of his condition.

An ambulance brought three medics late yesterday to the battered compound in Ramallah, where he has been effectively pinned by Israeli forces for more than 2-1/2 years.

"His health has deteriorated and there are plans to move him to the hospital in Ramallah," one medical source told Reuters.

Arafat spokesman Nabil Abu-Rudeineh told reporters that medical teams from Egypt and Jordan were expected in Ramallah today.

"The president needs more time to rest because of exhaustion," Mr Abu Rudeineh said.

The questions over the health of 75-year-old Arafat have added to fears of chaos in Palestinian territories since he has no obvious successor and there are already signs of a breakdown of order amid a four-year-old uprising.

Witnesses at Mr Arafat's compound said Prime Minister Ahmed Qurie and his predecessor, Mahmud Abbas, both veterans of the Palestinian struggle for a state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, had gone inside.