PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) has been released from a Ramallah Hospital on Monday after nine days. Israeli media reports he was treated for pneumonia.

Wearing a dark suit and escorted by two sons, the PA (Palestine Authority) leader told reporters “I’m going out in good health and tomorrow I’ll be back at work. I thank my people and all the Arab and international leaders who took care of my health and demanded my welfare. We will achieve our independent state with Jerusalem as its capital. If the Jerusalem issue put me in the hospital, I want to leave while Jerusalem is our capital. I thank all of you and wish our people health success and progress towards the goal – an independent Palestinian state. We are leaving the hospital and we will say – Jerusalem is the capital of Palestine.”

The 83-year-old PA leader was hospitalized on Sunday last week, for a second time. His office has continuously released messages of calm amid rumors of the elderly PA leader’s declining health.

Abbas was hospitalized last weekend with a fever, just days after undergoing ear surgery. Palestinian officials said he had pneumonia and was on a respirator, receiving antibiotics intravenously. Abbas allies insisted he was in good health, but day after day he remained hospitalized, and on Sunday, plans to release him were abruptly pushed back.

Abbas, a longtime smoker with weight problems, has a long history of health issues, ranging from heart trouble to a bout with prostate cancer a decade ago.

Two years ago, he underwent an emergency heart procedure after suffering exhaustion and chest pains. More recently, a cardiologist moved into the presidential compound in Ramallah to monitor the longtime leader after a mysterious hospital visit in the U.S. That visit followed Abbas’ address to the U.N. Security Council, in which he appeared weak.

The series of health scares have revived anxiety over a potential or even bloody succession battle.

After more than a decade of avoiding discussion of the post-Abbas era, Palestinian officials have cautiously begun to breach the matter in the open, mostly by playing down the crisis, even while potential successors are quietly jockeying for position.

“Some are using the president’s illness for political gain. Shame on them,” said Jibril Rajoub, a former security chief who is considered to be one of the would-be successors.

Abbas Zaki, a top official in Abbas’ ruling Fatah party, dodged the question of succession, saying the Palestine Liberation Organization, an umbrella governing body, “will be in charge if the president’s post is empty.”

Abbas took over as a caretaker leader following the death of Palestinian chief terrorist leader Yasser Arafat YM”S in 2004, and was elected for what was supposed to be a five-year term the following year.

A political split with Hamas has prevented new elections. He has remained in office as president of the internationally recognized Palestinian Authority since then, governing parts of the West Bank.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem / AP)