Arafat: Death reports abound
2004-11-09 16:41
Clamart, France - Confusion surrounded the health of ailing Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat here on Tuesday as reports swirled of his death at a French military hospital only to be swiftly denied.
The hospital at Clamart, outside Paris, announced a sudden deterioration in his health, saying he had slipped into a deeper coma, just before a delegation of senior Palestinian figures spent two and a half hours visiting him.
A member of the Palestinian cabinet in Ramallah told AFP on condition of anonymity that Arafat had died, but that no decision had been made to make the official announcement.
However, in Paris a spokesperson for the army medical service treating Arafat said that he was still alive at 15:30 (14:30 GMT), and two members of his entourage, UN delegate Nasser el-Qidwa and the representative in France Leila Shahid, also denied he was dead.
The confusion followed the visit by four top Palestinian figures - Prime Minister Ahmed Qorei, acting Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) chief Mahmud Abbas, foreign minister Nabil Shaath and parliamentary speaker Rawhi Fattuh - to the Percy military hospital in Clamart.
Qorei and Abbas both spent time at Arafat's sickbed.
After the visit Abbas said: "His situation is serious. Sadly it is very serious. We saw all the doctors."
Announcement
A short while later, the Palestinian cabinet minister in Ramallah said that "for sure he is dead," adding: "It's a question of how and when to announce it. It (an announcement) will be most likely made tonight."
A senior Palestinian official also told AFP from France that Arafat had passed away, saying the official announcement was just hours away.
However, Shaath told CNN that Arafat was still alive.
"His coma has deepened but he is fully alive," Shaath said. "His brain, heart and lungs, his vital organs still functioning."
And an official at the army medical service said that, "the statement made public by General Christian Estripeau is still valid at 15:30".
Estripeau, the medical service's official spokesperson, said earlier on Tuesday that Arafat had deteriorated overnight and slipped into a "deeper coma."
Quarrel
The arrival of the four leaders in Paris came against the background of a bitter quarrel with Suha Arafat, who has used France's strict privacy laws to control access to her husband and severely limit information about his health.
On Monday Suha made an emotional outburst on Al-Jazeera television urging the delegation to stay away and accusing them of "coming to Paris to try and bury Abu Ammar (Arafat's nom de guerre)".
Palestinian officials said they were astonished by Suha's remarks, which drew widespread criticism in the West Bank and Gaza.
In Israel there was widespread speculation that the fuss over the visit was also linked to the question of access to Arafat's personal fortune, with the Palestinian leadership anxious that Suha does not have a controlling hand.
