Arafat ‘brain dead’

CLAMART – Yasser Arafat was fighting for his life in a French hospital yesterday.

A hospital spokesman denied reports, which surfaced earlier in the day, that he had died. In the West Bank, an official said some of the Palestinian president’s powers were handed over to his prime minister.”Mr Arafat has not died,” said a spokesman for the French military hospital where Arafat (75), has been treated since last week.Various media reported yesterday that Arafat was brain dead or in a coma.Palestinian security chiefs were called to an emergency meeting at Arafat’s headquarters in Ramallah as concern mounted in the West Bank over the man who embodies the Palestinian struggle for statehood.In the West Bank city of Ramallah, Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurie said officials in France had told him the situation was unchanged.”They say the situation is still as it was.He is still in the intensive care unit.”Qurie assumed some of Arafat’s powers over security and financing yesterday, a senior official said.A senior Palestinian official in France said earlier that the Palestinian leader went into a coma overnight and was lying unconscious and in a critical condition.Doctors carrying out tests on Arafat since he was airlifted to France last Friday still did not know what was wrong with him, although they have ruled out leukemia, aides said.There was confusion over the Palestinian leader’s condition.Asked about the reports that Arafat had been declared clinically dead, US President George Bush told a news conference:”My first reaction is God bless his soul.””And my second reaction is we will continue to work for a free Palestinian state that’s at peace with Israel.”The slide into illness of the former guerrilla leader, who has dominated the Palestinian scene for four decades, has raised fears of chaos among Palestinians locked in a 4-year-old uprising.Arafat has named no successor since emerging from exile under interim peace accords with Israel in the early 1990s, and the death of a leader Israel and Washington see as an obstacle to peace could shuffle the cards in the Middle East conflict.Arafat’s immune system appeared weak as his health, which had at first stabilised after he arrived at the hospital, suddenly deteriorated on Wednesday, the aides said.He was transferred to the intensive care unit on Wednesday at around 5 p.m.(1600 GMT).”He has no immunity whatsoever,” one aide said, adding he slipped into the coma around 2 a.m.(0100 GMT) yesterday.Palestinian security services were due to hold an emergency meeting last night at Arafat’s shell-batterd headquarters in Ramallah, security sources said.Arafat was rushed to France with severe stomach pains, diarrhoea and vomiting.French President Jacques Chirac visited Arafat in the Percy military hospital southwest of Paris yesterday afternoon.Aides had been keen to present Arafat as still in charge.He has temporarily delegated powers to two men — Qurie and Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian leader’s number two in the PLO.Palestinian officials said Farouq Kaddoumi, another senior PLO official, had arrived in Paris to see Arafat.Both Washington and Israel accuse Arafat of fomenting violence in the uprising against Israeli occupation in Gaza and the West Bank that broke out in 2000, a charge he denies.Until he was airlifted to France, Arafat had been effectively confined to his shell-shattered Ramallah headquarters by Israeli forces for two-and-a-half years.- Nampa-Reuters caption FIGHTING FOR HIS LIFE …In this November 9 1999 file photograph, Palestinian President Yasser Arafat is seen speaking to television news crews after a meeting at Downing Street, London.Arafat is reported to be in a coma and in a critical condition in the intensive care unit at a French military hospital.Nampa-ReutersIn the West Bank, an official said some of the Palestinian president’s powers were handed over to his prime minister.”Mr Arafat has not died,” said a spokesman for the French military hospital where Arafat (75), has been treated since last week.Various media reported yesterday that Arafat was brain dead or in a coma.Palestinian security chiefs were called to an emergency meeting at Arafat’s headquarters in Ramallah as concern mounted in the West Bank over the man who embodies the Palestinian struggle for statehood.In the West Bank city of Ramallah, Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurie said officials in France had told him the situation was unchanged.”They say the situation is still as it was.He is still in the intensive care unit.”Qurie assumed some of Arafat’s powers over security and financing yesterday, a senior official said.A senior Palestinian official in France said earlier that the Palestinian leader went into a coma overnight and was lying unconscious and in a critical condition.Doctors carrying out tests on Arafat since he was airlifted to France last Friday still did not know what was wrong with him, although they have ruled out leukemia, aides said.There was confusion over the Palestinian leader’s condition.Asked about the reports that Arafat had been declared clinically dead, US President George Bush told a news conference:”My first reaction is God bless his soul.””And my second reaction is we will continue to work for a free Palestinian state that’s at peace with Israel.”The slide into illness of the former guerrilla leader, who has dominated the Palestinian scene for four decades, has raised fears of chaos among Palestinians locked in a 4-year-old uprising.Arafat has named no successor since emerging from exile under interim peace accords with Israel in the early 1990s, and the death of a leader Israel and Washington see as an obstacle to peace could shuffle the cards in the Middle East conflict.Arafat’s immune system appeared weak as his health, which had at first stabilised after he arrived at the hospital, suddenly deteriorated on Wednesday, the aides said.He was transferred to the intensive care unit on Wednesday at around 5 p.m.(1600 GMT).”He has no immunity whatsoever,” one aide said, adding he slipped into the coma around 2 a.m.(0100 GMT) yesterday.Palestinian security services were due to hold an emergency meeting last night at Arafat’s shell-batterd headquarters in Ramallah, security sources said.Arafat was rushed to France with severe stomach pains, diarrhoea and vomiting.French President Jacques Chirac visited Arafat in the Percy military hospital southwest of Paris yesterday afternoon.Aides had been keen to present Arafat as still in charge.He has temporarily delegated powers to two men — Qurie and Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian leader’s number two in the PLO.Palestinian officials said Farouq Kaddoumi, another senior PLO official, had arrived in Paris to see Arafat.Both Washington and Israel accuse Arafat of fomenting violence in the uprising against Israeli occupation in Gaza and the West Bank that broke out in 2000, a charge he denies.Until he was airlifted to France, Arafat had been effectively confined to his shell-shattered Ramallah headquarters by Israeli forces for two-and-a-half years.- Nampa-Reuters caption FIGHTING FOR HIS LIFE …In this November 9 1999 file photograph, Palestinian President Yasser Arafat is seen speaking to television news crews after a meeting at Downing Street, London.Arafat is reported to be in a coma and in a critical condition in the intensive care unit at a French military hospital.Nampa-Reuters