Arafat: The waiting game

2004-10-31 21:18

Paris - Their cellphones ring constantly and journalists are hot on their heels.

Aides to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, in hospital outside Paris, want to be reassuring but their drawn faces betray their fears.

In the lobby of a swank Parisian hotel, the Palestinian officials present a united front, systematically denying alarming reports that their iconic leader could have leukaemia or might be losing control of his mental faculties.

As to the possibility that the 75-year-old Arafat could be terminally ill, no one dares even to raise the taboo subject of his eventual death.

Nabil Abu Rudeina, Arafat's most senior advisor, is the most sought-after member of the Palestinian delegation that arrived here on Friday, when the frail Palestinian leader was admitted to a military hospital outside Paris.

Reporters and cameramen stake out the elevators in the Paris hotel each morning, hoping for a golden nugget of new information from Abu Rudeina about Arafat's condition.

Often, a reporter wakes him with a telephone call.

Disease 'curable'

"I can assure you that he is not suffering from leukaemia or any serious problem. His situation is curable, and we hope that he will recover soon," Abu Rudeina told journalists on Sunday.

When asked about the nature of Arafat's mystery illness, the response of his top advisor is unchanging: "We have to wait for the French doctors to give their diagnosis" - an announcement expected on Wednesday.

But while his words are meant to exude confidence, the grave expression on Abu Rudeina's face belies the tension felt as the delegation awaits some good news from the Percy military hospital in Clamart.

Mohammed Dahlan, the former Palestinian security minister and strongman of the Gaza Strip, has held back from making any upbeat statements, saying only: "We have to wait for the official results of the medical tests."

Only Arafat's wife Suha, his chief of staff Ramzi Khoury and his main bodyguard Yusef al-Abdullah remain constantly at the Palestinian leader's bedside.

Claude Leostic, vice-president of the France Palestine Solidarity Association, said the members of the Palestinian delegation remained worried, adding: "They are envisioning all possible scenarios, even if leukaemia has been ruled out."

- AFP