  We present a simple model of hot gas in galaxy clusters, assuming hydrostatic
equilibrium and energy balance between radiative cooling and thermal
conduction. For five clusters, A1795, A1835, A2199, A2390 and RXJ1347.5-1145,
the model gives a good description of the observed radial profiles of electron
density and temperature, provided we take the thermal conductivity $\kappa$ to
be about 30% of the Spitzer conductivity. Since the required $\kappa$ is
consistent with the recent theoretical estimate of Narayan & Medvedev (2001)
for a turbulent magnetized plasma, we consider a conduction-based equilibrium
model to be viable for these clusters. We further show that the hot gas is
thermally stable because of the presence of conduction. For five other
clusters, A2052, A2597, Hydra A, Ser 159-03 and 3C295, the model requires
unphysically large values of $\kappa$ to fit the data. These clusters must have
some additional source of heat, most likely an active galactic nucleus since
all the clusters have strong radio galaxies at their centers. We suggest that
thermal conduction, though not dominant in these clusters, may nevertheless
play a significant role by preventing the gas from becoming thermally unstable.
