Abbas admitted to Ramallah hospital for ‘routine checkup’

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Saturday was admitted to a hospital in Ramallah, for what his spokesman said was a routine checkup.

Nabil Abu Rudeineh told the official Wafa news agency the 82-year-old president was undergoing physical tests at Istishari Hospital and would be released later on Saturday afternoon.

Later, after Abbas was released, a doctor at the hospital told Palestine TV all test results were “reassuring.”

“The president is in very good health,” Yasser Abu Safiya said.

Abbas, who has a history of health issues, underwent an emergency cardiac catheterization last October after suffering exhaustion and chest pains.

The PA president, who is a heavy smoker and is overweight, was treated several years ago for prostate cancer, and has also had a stent inserted in his heart to treat artery blockage.

An unnamed Palestinian official told the Ynet news site that Saturday’s checkup was originally scheduled at a hospital in Jordan, but Abbas opted to go for treatment in Ramallah to avoid coordinating security for his departure from the West Bank with Israel.

Last week, Abbas froze security ties with Israel in protest over new security measures at the Temple Mount installed after a July 14 terror attack at the site, when three Arab Israelis shot dead two police officers outside the compound using weapons smuggled into the Al-Aqsa Mosque.

After the security measures were removed and Abbas gave his blessing to the protestors on Thursday to resume praying at the site, a senior PA official told The Times of Israel that security coordination would gradually be restored if Israel refrained from again introducing new security measures at the site.

AFP contributed to this report.