Arafat 'has hours to live': May Already Be Dead

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PARIS: The fate of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat was mired in confusion on Tuesday as senior Palestinian political sources said that Palestinian President Yasser Arafat is dead.

"He is dead," one of the Palestinian sources said in Paris. Another official close to Arafat said: "Yes, he is dead. There will be an announcement soon."

However, French medical sources has contradicted the report.

The information from sources close to Arafat could not immediately be confirmed. However, Palestinian Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath told CNN from Paris that Arafat was alive and no decision has been made to take him off life-support.

Several Palestinian sources earlier said Arafat, 75, had succumbed to the mystery illness that led to his being flown to Paris from the West Bank on Oct. 29 but a source close to the French medical team treating him said: "Mr. Arafat is not dead."

In four decades leading the Palestinian nationalist cause, Arafat has gone from guerrilla icon to Nobel prize-winning peacemaker to a shunned old leader mired in renewed bloodshed with Israel.

Arafat has been in a coma brought on by a still-undisclosed illness, with his dream of a Palestinian state unrealized, a possible succession battle brewing and the threat of chaos in Palestinian territories looming.

He had been widely admired by Palestinians as the father of their struggle for statehood but was reviled by many Israelis as the face of terror.

Nonetheless, both sides have wondered whether his death might serve as the catalyst for first real peace effort in years or plunge the region into deeper crisis.

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French doctors kept a tight lid on details of Arafat's condition at the behest of his wife, Suha, who engaged in a war of words with senior Palestinians officials over her virtual monopoly on information from his hospital bedside.

But on Tuesday, as the officials arrived in Paris to check on Arafat, doctors said he had slipped deeper into a coma.

The delegation including Prime Minister Ahmed Qurie, Shaath and Palestine Liberation Organization Secretary General Mahmoud Abbas arrived at the hospital after France hinted it was losing patience with the visit dispute.

The hospital had ruled out leukemia but had not given any diagnosis of Arafat's illness. Palestinian officials said he had suffered from liver failure.

All three leaders who flew into Paris on Monday are potential successors and Arafat's wife had accused them of wanting to "bury him alive." Shaath said the delegation wanted to get the full facts on Arafat.

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Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat is suffering from a brain haemorrhage, a top aide has told reporters in the West Bank town of Ramallah.

Tayeb Abdel Rahim said Mr Arafat started bleeding on Monday evening and was now in a critical condition.

Officials at the hospital near Paris where Mr Arafat is being treated had earlier said his coma had deepened.

Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei visited Mr Arafat's bedside in a two-hour visit to the French hospital.

Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath who also visited the hospital, along with former Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas, confirmed that Mr Arafat had been in a coma since last Wednesday.

"His state has worsened last night but there is no sign of... death in any of his vital parts. His brain, heart and lungs are still functioning," Mr Shaath told CNN.

Doctors have not explained the reasons for Mr Arafat's illness.

Mr Qurei is heading a delegation of Palestinian leaders who arrived in France on Monday night hoping to discover the truth about Mr Arafat's health.

They say information is being filtered by Mr Arafat's wife, Suha, who earlier accused them of conspiring against her husband.

Mr Shaath told CNN the delegation, which also includes the speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Assembly Rawhi Fattuh, would return to Ramallah, via Jordan, later on Tuesday.

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