Story highlights
- Doctors say heart surgery on Palestinian leader was successful
- Abbas attended funeral of Israeli statesman Shimon Peres in late September
(CNN)Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is recovering in a hospital after undergoing heart surgery, his office told CNN on Thursday.
Abbas, 81, underwent cardiac catheterization, a process in which a tube is inserted into a large blood vessel that leads to the heart.
The procedure is usually performed to find out if a patient has a disease of the heart muscle, valves or coronary arteries, according to the American Heart Association.
The surgery was successful and Abbas is now asleep under sedation, say doctors.
Abbas out and about
Abbas, Netanyahu shake hands at service 01:38
One of the last times the Palestinian leader was seen in public was at the funeral of Israeli statesman Shimon Peres in late September. In a brief moment of reconciliation, Abbas shook hands with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The two men have often been on opposite sides of a political divide that sometimes seems unbridgeable.
