Arafat arrives in Paris to receive medical treatment
The Palestinian president Yasser Arafat arrived on Friday in Paris on board of a French medical plane after his doctors recommended to transfer him abroad to receive treatment following the deterioration in his health condition.
Arafat is due to receive medical treatment in the military "Percy Hospital" in Klamar in the western quarters of Paris.
The "Daso Falcon" plane which carried Arafat from Jordan to Filacoplay military airport near Paris.
Officials in the French ministry of defense said that the plane delayed one hour from its set arrival date because it had not a license to fly in the Israeli airspace.
The French official news agency quoted the French president Jack Chirac in Rome as saying that permitting Arafat to receive medical treatment in France hospital falls in the course of France's commitment to its tradition as "a land for hosting guests." Chirac added he believes the assurances given by Israel on permitting Arafat to return back to the Palestinian territories, adding that there is "no reason not to believe what the Israeli government had officially announced."
The Palestinian president Yasser Arafat left Amman immediately after arriving in it yesterday morning to receive medical treatment after the deterioration in his health condition.
News reports in Amman said that President Arafat arrived in "Marka" military airport coming from his headquarters in Ramullah, the West Bank on board of a Jordanian military plane that carried him together with his medical team and another plane that carried his escorts.
The reports said that Arafat was taken on a mobile chair to the French medical plane which was waiting him at the land of the airport a short time after his arrival. Arafat told his aides before he went into the plane that he will "Inshallah (God willing) return back."
In Amman, Arafat was received by the Jordanian foreign minister Hani al-Malaqi, Arab and French diplomats and Palestinian officials including the foreign minister Nabil Shaath. The Jordanian authorities tightened its security measures in the surrounding the airport and prevented journalists from approaching or picturing.