Palestinian PM recovering after heart operation

Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad suffered a heart attack and underwent an operation in Texas on Monday.

Mr. Fayyad's condition is good, said Adrienne Lallo, a spokesperson for Seton Medical Center in Austin, Texas.

Fayyad with President Mahmoud Abbas has led the statehood building process asking the United Nations to recognize the state of Palestine.

However, Hamas officials have been saying that the idea of him remaining the PM in the new government would be reviewed later.

Fayyad earned his doctorate in Economics from the University of Texas at Austin, the same university from where his son is currently studying. Later, he worked at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) from 1987 to 2001.

Fayyad became the finance minister of Palestine in 2002, when Yasser Arafat ruled the Palestinian Authority. He is not a member of the Fatah and he also ran as an independent in the 2006 legislative elections.

Palestinian Authority spokesman Ghassan Khatib said that Fayyad’s condition was stable and there has not been any overnight news. The Prime Minister is expected to be released from the hospital within a few days, he added.