Palestine’s Abbas’ stay in hospital extended for over a week

President of the Palestinian Authority (PA) Mahmoud Abbas is to stay in hospital for at least another week as doctors say he is being treated for a lung infection.

Abbas’ office said in a text message to journalists on Sunday that the expected release of the Palestinian leader from hospital which had been planned for Sunday was postponed and he will stay in the Istishari Arab Hospital in the occupied West Bank for eight more days.

Sources within the PA said Abbas was still undergoing treatment, although they insisted he was in good health and has been holding meetings with international and Palestinian officials at his bedside.

Said Sarahneh, head of the hospital near Ramallah where Abbas in being treated, said test results show an improvement in his health.

“President Mahmoud Abbas’s condition is showing a continuous and speedy improvement,” Sarahneh told official Palestinian news agency Wafa.

Other reports had suggested that Abbas, 83, who was hospitalized on May 20 for follow-ups on an ear surgery, would be discharged on Monday or Tuesday. However, doctors denied those reports and said a discharge date would only be agreed when the Palestinian president fully recovered.

On Monday, official media published pictures showing Abbas reading a newspaper and walking around the wards, an apparent attempt to reject reports suggesting his condition was worse than officially communicated. Some of those reports, which authorities dismissed as rumors, said Abbas had a severe inflammation in his ear while others suggested the PA leader, who is a heavy smoker, may have suffered from a stroke as he had consistent pain in his chest.

Abbas has served as the PA president since the death of Yasser Arafat in 2004. His administration rules the West Bank but represents all Palestinians, including those in the Gaza Strip, internationally.

The Palestinian leader, who has been accused of being too cooperative to the Israeli regime over the past years, has consistently rejected calls for an election that could renew his expired five-year mandate. He cites disagreement with the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas, which rules Gaza, as the main impediment to holding a nationwide election.

Abbas’ health has been the subject of numerous media reports in the recent past. He was hospitalized for medical checks during a February trip to the United States to address the UN Security Council in New York.

His ailing condition comes amid some tough times for the Palestinians. About 100 people have been killed by Israel in renewed clashes on the Gaza border which intensified after the United States moved its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem al-Quds. Abbas has fiercely contested the move while pursuing a case in the United Nations Security Council to condemn the Israeli killings as a war crime.

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