Arafat in a coma

2004-11-04 14:34

Paris - Yasser Arafat has lapsed into a coma, a senior Palestinian official said on Thursday, a day after the Palestinian leader was rushed to intensive care following a sharp deterioration in his health.

However, two Arafat aides denied he was in a coma, and French hospital and military officials would not comment on the ailing Arafat's health.

The 75-year-old leader was rushed for emergency treatment to the Percy Military Training Hospital outside Paris last Friday.

Since then, his condition has largely remained a mystery, with Palestinians issuing conflicting reports about his health.

On Thursday, a senior Palestinian with close access to the French medical team insisted Arafat was comatose - but would not say when he lost consciousness.

But Mohammed Rashid, Arafat's financial adviser, strongly denied reports that Arafat had slipped into a coma.

"Last night, several blood and bone marrow tests were done that required the president to be in an isolation unit for several hours, and there is no truth to any of the reports that he is in a coma," Rashid said.

Emergency meeting

Still, in the West Bank city of Ramallah, senior Palestinian officials convened an emergency meeting after learning of the deterioration in Arafat's condition, said Sakher Habash, a member of the Central Committee of the ruling Fatah movement.

But Israeli media, citing Israeli intelligence officials, said Arafat suffered organ failure and that he had lost consciousness several times.

The Maariv daily said Arafat's condition was "very critical."

But some of Arafat's top aides denied there had been any setback and accused Israel of spreading rumours.

"These unfounded reports are not coming from French medical teams, these are leaks from the Israeli side," said Mohammed Dahlan, a former Palestinian security chief.

"Leaking such rumours will only complicate things and also complicate the situation within the Palestinian public," he told reporters in Paris.

Khaled Salem, Arafat's top aide, said early on Thursday that the medical analysis was "deepening a little bit" but he remained confident Arafat would recover.

Top Israeli security officials were meeting on Thursday to study the repercussions in the Middle East should Arafat die, Israeli officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

On Tuesday, one source who said he had been briefed on the Palestinian leader's status told The Associated Press that his condition was "fatal" - but he gave no further details and the claim could not be confirmed.

- AP