Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas was hospitalized in the West Bank on Sunday for the third time in less than week amid fears over the leader’s condition.
Abbas underwent minor ear surgery on Tuesday but went back into al-Istishari Hospital in Ramallah briefly overnight on Saturday/Sunday, the official Palestinian news agency Wafa said.
He was then rushed back later on Sunday, for what doctors described only as "medical tests".
Dr. Saed al-Sarahneh, medical director of the hospital, spoke outside the private hospital late Sunday, saying that Abbas had entered in the morning "for medical tests after the surgery he had three days ago in his middle ear. All the tests are normal and his medical condition is reassuring."
The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) said on its Twitter account that Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat had visited the leader in hospital and quoted Erekat as saying: "the President is in good health".
But a source familiar with his condition said Abbas was hospitalized with chest pain and a high fever .
In February, Abbas underwent what was then described as routine medical tests in the United States.
Abbas won a four-year term as president in 2005 after the death of Yasser Arafat.
The Fatah movement leader is also chairman of the executive committee of the PLO.
