Nabil Abu Rudeineh
Photo: AFP
Report: Arafat aide seriously ill
Palestinian Web site reports that Arafat's aide Nabil Abu Rudeineh may have been poisoned
Arafat aide A top advisor of former PA chairman Yasser Arafat is suffering from similar symptoms to those diagnosed in the deceased Palestinian leader before his death, a Palestinian Web site reported Wednesday.
Doctors at a London hospital treating Nabil Abu Rudeineh had to remove one of his kidneys and implant instead a kidney donated by his sister, the Web site said.
Rudeineh's family told the PNN Web site that the former aide was recovering and would return to the territories in the near future.
Rudeineh has been feeling unwell for some time now and doctors told his family that the liver malfunction he suffered may have been caused by poisoning.
The report revived speculations in the Palestinian media that Arafat might have been poisoned by Israel and that Rudeineh was also targeted.
Ten months after Arafat's death, his personal doctor claimed that French doctors who treated Arafat in the last days of his life had found he was infected with HIV.
The doctor also claimed that the HIV virus was inserted into Arafat's blood to camouflage the poisoning.
