Arafat: Speculation swirls

2004-11-06 21:37

Paris - Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat remained in an unchanged but still critical condition on Saturday, with his closest adviser insisting that a recovery was possible.

Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qorei did not deny the possibility Arafat had been poisoned, but said he did not have a final report on Arafat's condition.

"Despite the critical state of health of President Arafat, his condition is not irreversible, as certain media have reported, and we hope that his condition will improve in coming days," senior adviser Nabil Abu Rudeina told AFP.

On Thursday, a medical source said the 75-year-old president of the Palestinian Authority was in a "brain dead" state, but this was denied by senior Palestinian leaders, including negotiations minister Saeb Erakat.

"The president is not brain dead. His brain and heart are functioning. He is not living off machines," Erakat told reporters ahead of a meeting of the executive committee of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO).

Mahmud Abbas, the former prime minister acting as leader of the PLO in Arafat's absence, added, "We are following up on the health of the president. His health is stable."

Poison

Prime Minister Ahmed Qorei said Arafat still was undergoing medical tests to determine the nature of his mystery illness.

In response to a reporter who asked if he though Arafat had been poisoned, he replied, "all options are open."

"The doctors are examining everything and we completely trust our French doctors," Qorei said. "We do not yet have a final report on Arafat's health."

French authorities limited information to the strict minimum, saying that only an extremely restricted circle of people was authorised to give information about Arafat's health, and that this group was entirely controlled by his wife, Suha.

"There is no change one way or another compared to the health bulletin issued Friday," said General Christian Estripeau, the spokesperson for France's military medical service.

On Friday Estripeau, who said he was in regular contact with Arafat's wife, disclosed only that Arafat's health had "not deteriorated" and was considered stable.

Arafat has been in a military hospital at Clamart, southwest of Paris, since October 29.

Since then, three non-revealing official communiques have been issued.

Speculation

Given the paucity of information from French authorities, speculation about Arafat's health was rampant.

Israel's largest circulation daily Yedioth Yedioth Ahronoth said on its website that Arafat had emerged from a coma, had opened his eyes and was talking to doctors.

One member of Arafat's entourage, Munib Masri, was quoted as saying the leader was "conscious and stable" after emerging from a coma, but he admitted that he had not seen Arafat with his own eyes.

- AFP