Abbas to stay in hospital

RAMALLAH (Reuters) – Doctors kept Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in the hospital, where officials say he is being treated for a lung infection, for an eighth night on Sunday.

The 82-year-old leader had been expected to be released on Sunday, but this was postponed, Abbas’s office said in a text message to journalists.

Abbas, who is a heavy smoker, was admitted on May 20 for what doctors had initially said were medical tests following ear surgery. He was shown on Palestinian television last week walking along a hospital corridor and sitting in an armchair reading a newspaper.

A Palestinian official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Abbas was still undergoing treatment and would not be released on Sunday, adding that he has been holding meetings with international and Palestinian officials at his bedside.

The official Palestinian news agency Wafa ran a statement that quoted Istishari Hospital’s medical director, Said Sarahneh, as saying test results show an improvement in Abbas’s health.

“President Mahmoud Abbas’s condition is showing a continuous and speedy improvement,” Sarahneh told Wafa.

Abbas, who was also hospitalized for medical checks during a trip to address the UN Security Council in February, became president after the death of Yasser Arafat in 2004.

The Western-backed president’s democratic mandate expired eight years ago.

There has been no presidential election since 2005 and the term of office is only five years. His authority is essentially limited to the West Bank, with the Islamist group Hamas in control of the Gaza Strip.

Abbas has no formal deputy in the Palestinian Authority. In theory, the speaker of parliament would take over on an interim basis if the president were to die in office.

But the speaker’s role is held by a Hamas representative, and Abbas’s Fatah faction would likely dispute the constitutional legitimacy of his taking over.