Several
political sources said Arafat, 75, in a coma for the past six days, had
succumbed to the mystery illness that led to his being flown to Paris from the
West Bank on Oct. 29, thrusting his Palestinian Authority into crisis.
"He is dead. It is possible they will delay the announcement," one
Palestinian source said. "He died after bleeding in the brain began last night.
His bodyguards started hugging and kissing and telling each other to be strong."
But a spokesman for French medical services insisted Arafat was still alive,
saying: "Mr. Arafat is not dead."
Palestinian Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath told CNN from Paris that Arafat was
alive and no decision has been made to take him off life-support.
The flurry of conflicting reports surfaced during a visit to Paris by a
delegation of three senior Palestinian officials, all seen as potential
successors to Arafat, to check on the Palestinian leader despite his wife's
angry objections.
 |
| Two Palestinians men react after hearing the news of President
Yasser Arafat in the centre of the West Bank city of Ramallah on November
9, 2004. [Reuters] |
In four decades leading the
Palestinian nationalist cause, Arafat has gone from guerrilla icon to Nobel
prize-winning peacemaker to a shunned old leader facing renewed bloodshed with
Israel.
Arafat has been in a coma brought on by a still-undisclosed illness, with his
dream of a Palestinian state unrealized, a possible succession battle brewing
and the threat of chaos in Palestinian territories looming.
He has been widely admired by Palestinians as the father of their struggle
for statehood but was reviled by many Israelis as the face of terror.
Both sides have wondered whether his death might serve as the catalyst for
first real peace effort in years or plunge the region into deeper crisis.
SWIFT DECLINE
Arafat had been flown to the Paris military hospital from his battered West
Bank headquarters where he had been effectively confined by Israel for more than
two and a half years.
Despite his reputation as a consummate survivor, Arafat's decline came
swiftly and with little warning.
 |
| Tayyeb Abdel-Rahi, a senior aide to Palestinian President Yasser
Arafat reacts during a press conference at the Arafat's compound in the
West Bank city of Ramallah on November 9, 2004.
[Reuters] |
Initial claims that he was suffering
from a stomach ailment soon gave way to widespread reports that he had slipped
into a coma and that his organs were failing.
French doctors kept a tight lid on details of Arafat's condition at the
behest of his wife, Suha, who engaged in a war of words with senior Palestinians
officials over her virtual monopoly on information from his hospital bedside.
But on Tuesday, as the officials arrived in Paris to check on Arafat, doctors
said he had slipped deeper into a coma.
The delegation including Prime Minister Ahmed Qurie, Shaath and Palestine
Liberation Organization Secretary General Mahmoud Abbas arrived at the hospital
after France hinted it was losing patience with the visit dispute.
The hospital had ruled out leukemia but had not given any diagnosis of
Arafat's illness. Palestinian officials said he had suffered from liver failure.
All three leaders who flew into Paris on Monday are potential successors and
Arafat's wife had accused them of wanting to "bury him alive." Shaath said the
delegation wanted to get the full facts on Arafat.
Despite the bickering, Secretary of State Colin Powell said on Monday he was
impressed by the Palestinian leaders' handling of Arafat's absence and said he
hoped the "relative calm" in the region would continue.
"I hope that sense of quiet and calm can be maintained and (that) it gives us
something to work with," Powell told reporters on the way to Mexico. He
reiterated that the United States was "ready to engage as soon as it is
appropriate to engage" with the so-called road map peace plan.
