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Palestinian prime minister hospitalized

Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad was briefly hospitalized Monday with stomach problems but did not suffer another heart attack, a close friend of his told The Cable. "He had some stomach problems, he was in the hospital for a half an hour. He did not have a heart attack," Ziad Asali, President of the American ...

By , a former staff writer at Foreign Policy.
Getty Images
Getty Images
Getty Images

Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad was briefly hospitalized Monday with stomach problems but did not suffer another heart attack, a close friend of his told The Cable.

"He had some stomach problems, he was in the hospital for a half an hour. He did not have a heart attack," Ziad Asali, President of the American Task Force for Palestine, said in a short phone interview.

Asali spoke with Fayyad directly Monday and said that rumors to the effect that Fayyad had suffered a heart attack were not true. Fayyad did suffer a heart attack during a May 2011 trip to see his son graduate from the University of Texas at Austin.

"He’s had some problems with his stomach before," Asali said. "I have been told by him that he did not have a heart attack and he is home already."

Fayyad is reported to be in a power struggle with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. President Barack Obama praised both Abbas and Fayyad as "true partners" for peace in his visit to Israel and the West Bank last month.

Josh Rogin is a former staff writer at Foreign Policy. Twitter: @joshrogin

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