Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is alert and making a swift recovery after being hospitalized with a fever over the weekend and should be released within days, a top aide and a hospital doctor said Monday.
Abbas, 82, was admitted to hospital for the third time in less than a week on Sunday in the West Bank city of Ramallah. He is reportedly suffering from a lung infection and could remain in the hospital for several days, officials in his office said.
The Palestinian leader's recent hospital stays sparked rumors that his health was rapidly deteriorating. Some reports claimed that he had lapsed into a coma on Sunday and was suffering from multiple organ failure.
To put an end to the rumors, Abbas' office on Monday released a photo and brief video clip showing him walking in the hospital hallway, dressed in a blue bathrobe and flanked by aides. Another photo showed him sitting and reading a newspaper.
Senior Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said Monday Abbas was in "very good health."
"He is recovering and doctors expect him to leave the hospital within the coming two days," Erekat said after visiting Abbas.
Dr. Said Sarahneh, the medical director of Ramallah's Istishari Arab Hospital, said Abbas had been diagnosed with pneumonia and responded to treatment quickly.
The official Wafa news agency said Abbas received phone calls from the Egyptian president and intelligence chief as well as the Qatari foreign minister and secretary general of the Arab League.
Erekat said Abbas was taking antibiotics and responding well to his treatment. He said they discussed important issues, including the opening of a new Paraguayan Embassy in Jerusalem, which Abbas condemned, and Palestinian plans to submit a new complaint against Israel with the International Criminal Court on Tuesday.
Abbas, who is a heavy smoker and overweight, has a long history of health issues, ranging from heart trouble to a bout with prostate cancer a decade ago. Two years ago, he underwent an emergency heart procedure after suffering exhaustion and chest pains.
More recently, a cardiologist moved into the presidential compound in Ramallah to monitor the longtime leader after a mysterious hospital visit in the United States, following Abbas' address to the United Nations Security Council, in which he appeared weak.
Abbas, who insists he is fine, has refused to designate a successor. But after more than a decade of avoiding discussion of the post-Abbas era, Palestinian officials acknowledge that they are concerned and potential successors are quietly jockeying for position. Erekat declined to discuss the matter on Monday.
Uncertainty shrouds the post-Abbas future. Under Palestinian law, the parliament speaker is supposed to take over if the president is incapacitated or dies. But the current speaker, Aziz Dweik, is a member of Hamas. Abbas' Fatah party has argued that since parliament has not functioned in more than a decade, Dweik would not be eligible to lead the Palestinians.
A number of top officials in Abbas' Fatah movement head the list of potential successors.
Jibril Rajoub, a former security chief, and Mahmoud Aloul, Fatah's deputy chairman, are both members of the party's decision-making Central Committee.
Abbas' current security chief, Majed Farraj, is another strong contender, with good behind-the-scenes working relations with both Israel and the U.S.
Marwan Barghouti, a former Palestinian political leader serving multiple life sentences in Israel for murder and terrorism, tops public opinion polls. But his incarceration would pose a strong obstacle to him taking office. Israel has ruled out releasing him.
Mohammed Dahlan, an exiled rival of Abbas who now lives in the United Arab Emirates, also enjoys some support but the local leadership opposes him.
