'They want to bury him alive'

2004-11-08 08:39

Doha - Yasser Arafat's wife Suha told Al Jazeera television that three of his top lieutenants due in Paris on Monday to visit the ailing Palestinian leader "want to bury Arafat alive" to inherit his power.

"Abu Ammar (Arafat) is doing well and will return home," but "Abbas, Qorei and Shaath, who are trying to inherit his power, want to bury Arafat alive," Suha told the Doha-based Arabic language satellite channel.

She was referring to Palestinian prime minister Ahmed Qorei, Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) acting chairperson Mahmud Abbas and foreign minister Nabil Shaath who are due in the French capital to visit the 75-year-old Arafat, in hospital in the southwest Paris suburb of Clamart.

In an "appeal" to the Palestinian people, Suha Arafat said: "A handful of (people) seeking to inherit power are coming to Paris to try and bury Abu Ammar alive. I ask you to look at the extent of the plot."

Mrs Arafat was speaking from the Percy military hospital where her husband, whose nom de guerre is Abu Ammar, has been fighting for his life since October 29.

A member of the PLO executive committee had said that Qorei and Abbas were making the trip as they were frustrated at the lack of information on the state of Arafat's health.

A spokesperson for the medical service of the French army said earlier that Arafat's condition remained unchanged in the hospital where he has been in a coma since Wednesday.

- AFP