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Israel: Arafat more ill than PA lets on

By Jerusalem Newswire Editorial Staff: 

October 22, 2003: Jerusalem - Major-General Aaron Ze'evi Farkash, head of IDF intelligence, told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee Tuesday that PLO chief Yasser Arafat's current illness is "serious."

According to Farkash, Palestinian terror groups are stockpiling weapons in anticipation of the bloody power struggle that will ensue immediately following Arafat's death.

Military planners reportedly expect the brunt of the violence to be directed at Israel's Jewish population.

So how sick is he?

Palestinian Authority officials Tuesday told Reuters that following a checkup by Egyptian doctors, the diagnosis was that Arafat was suffering from gallstones that would need to be removed in the near future.

Over the past several weeks, accounts of Arafat's condition have ranged from the flu to food poisoning to stomach cancer.

Through it all, Palestinian officials have insisted their leader is at no serious risk, and according to reports that have reached Israeli officials, Washington believes Arafat's recent health problems are "routine," Ha'aretz reported today.

Farkash Tuesday refuted those positions, saying military intelligence was convinced Israel's longtime arch-enemy was "seriously ill."

Arafat's exact condition, however, "is not clear right now and it's not clear where it is going," Farkash admitted.

The coming storm

Armed Palestinian groups, including the numerous official PA security agencies, are preparing "for the war for Chairman Arafat's job as a result of Yasser Arafat's ailment," Farkash warned.

"Those preparations include the stockpiling of weapons by [the PA's] various security services ahead of an armed clash between them," he said.

According to recent media reports, IDF forces have begun training exercises aimed at defending Israel's Jewish population against what is expected to be an unprecedented wave of terrorism following Arafat's death.

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