JERUSALEM (JTA) — Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas was hospitalized in Ramallah for what doctors and Palestinian officials told media outlets said was due to exhaustion and stress.
The doctors and officials were speaking anonymously a day after Abbas, 82, went to the hospital. His spokesman said Abbas went in for a routine medical checkup.
Abbas is overweight and a heavy smoker, though he reportedly recently switched to electronic cigarettes. He had a cardiac catheterization last October after suffering chest pains, a procedure he also had in 2008 and 2005. He had prostate surgery in the United States in 2001.
Abbas, who has been the Palestinian Authority president for more than a decade, has not yet appointed a successor in case his health deteriorates.
Haaretz reported Sunday that the Israeli defense establishment is concerned about what it believes is the deteriorating health of Abbas, which would lead to a political changing of the guard at the P.A.
