PLO's Shaath Hospitalized after Heart Failure
Fatah terror organization's Nabil Shaath, 73, was aboard a plane when he felt chest pains.
By Gil Ronen
First Publish: 11/28/2011, 5:21 PM
Nabil Shaath
Flash 90
Nabil Shaath, a member of the central committee of terror organization Fatah, was hospitalized Sunday in a Dutch hospital after suffering heart failure.
He was on a plane that had just taken off for Malaysia when he complained of chest pains. The pilots landed the plane back in Holland and medical crews took him to en Amsterdam hospital.
According to the Bethlehem-based Maan news agency, Shaath's wife Rajaa Abu Ghazela said that he was in stable condition but would remain under surveillance in hospital.
Shaath had been visiting Denmark, Sweden and Belgium to garner diplomatic support for the recognition of a state of Palestine at the United Nations.
Israelis are familiar with Shaath as a representative of the PLO since the Oslo Accords that gave Fatah legitimacy in official Israeli eyes. He doggedly refuses to recognize Israel as a Jewish state and has said several times that the PA will not relent in the matter of recognizing Israel as Jewish.
In an Al Jazeera interview two months ago he said: "I've seen how peace could work ... I've seen how the Israelis can also be drawn into hope, a real hope that brings real results."
Tags: PA ,Nabil Shaath