Palestinian Prime Minister Hospitalized In U.S. After Heart Attack

Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad

The Palestinian National Authority prime minister, Salam Fayyad, is reported in good condition at a hospital in Texas after suffering a heart attack.

Palestinian officials said Fayyad, who is in his late 50s, experienced strong chest pains on May 22 while attending his son's university graduation in the city of Austin.

Officials said that on May 23, doctors in Austin performed a catheterization to clear a blockage in a coronary artery.

A spokeswoman for Seton Medical Center said Fayyad's condition was "good."

Fayyad, an economist, has been prime minister in Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas's government in the West Bank since 2007, after the Palestinian Islamist Hamas movement seized control of the Gaza Strip.

Reports say Fayyad's future in the government has been unclear since Abbas's Fatah faction and Hamas signed a reconciliation agreement earlier this month.

compiled from agency reports