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Aide: Arafat suffers brain hemorrhage
« on: Nov 9th, 2004, 7:35pm » |
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Aide: Arafat suffers brain hemorrhage
Tuesday, November 9, 2004 Posted: 6:53 PM EST (2353 GMT)
(CNN) -- Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat has suffered a brain hemorrhage, according to a top aide.
Al-Tayyeb Abdel Raheem told reporters Tuesday that Palestinian officials in Ramallah are in close contact with colleagues in Paris, where Arafat, 75, has been hospitalized since October 29.
"[Palestinian Authority] President Arafat deteriorated since last night. ... He has a blood hemorrhage in the head," said Raheem through a translator. "All efforts are being presented by our friends the French doctors to stop this blood hemorrhage."
In the West Bank, Palestinian sources told CNN that if Arafat dies, he probably will be buried at his Ramallah compound, the Muqataa, which is also headquarters of the Palestinian Authority. Arafat has been confined there for the past three years.
"Muqataa became the symbol ... [It] was the presidential compound, the president's place of siege for the past three years," Raheem said.
Earlier Tuesday in Paris, Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qorei was permitted to see Arafat briefly, Palestinian officials said.
Qorei was part of a Palestinian delegation that arrived in Paris on Monday. The delegation was at Percy Military Hospital for two hours, but only Qorei was allowed to see Arafat.
In a phone interview with CNN, Palestinian Foreign Minister Nabil Sha'ath said that Qorei told the delegation that the Palestinian leader is in a coma in critical condition, "but that he is fully alive, and his brain, his heart, his lungs are fully functioning."
Earlier, a hospital spokesman said Arafat's condition grew worse overnight, and he slipped into a deeper coma.
Arafat's blood platelet count is dropping, and he receives daily transfusions, a source close to Palestinian leadership told CNN on Monday.
Despite an earlier public dispute between Arafat's wife, Suha, and the Palestinian delegation over whether delegation members would visit with the ailing leader, Sha'ath said Suha Arafat embraced all members of the delegation.
"She walked hand in hand with [Qorei] into the president's room, and walked out with him," he said.
The delegation postponed a planned trip over the weekend after Suha Arafat, 41, made an emotional phone call to an Arabic-language television network, in which she accused the Palestinian leadership of conspiring against her husband.
But after a meeting early Monday, the leadership decided to go ahead with its trip. In addition to Qorei and Sha'ath, the delegation included former Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas, who is now the acting head of the Palestine Liberation Organization, and Speaker of the Parliament Rawhi Fattuh, who would replace Arafat on an interim basis for 60 days if Arafat dies or is declared to be permanently incapacitated.
The Palestinian delegation also met with top French officials, including President Jacques Chirac, who pledged his support to the Palestinians.
Sha'ath said Tuesday the Palestinian delegation also met with Arafat's doctors, and said that hospital tests have "ruled out totally" conspiracy theories that have suggested that Arafat's illness was brought on by poisoning.
It's not clear what his diagnosis is, Sha'ath said, but doctors have also ruled out cancer.
Sha'ath said there is no talk of removing Arafat from life support.
"We are not really believers in euthanasia. The man is not suffering; he is in a coma ... It's out of the question that anybody is thinking of taking any such decisions," he said.
Sha'ath also told reporters that top Islamic cleric Taissir Dayut Tamimi was on his way to Paris to be with Arafat. The cleric's presence, Palestinian sources in Ramallah said, is required for an Islamic declaration of death -- one that would be issued out of respect for Arafat, but also to prevent any questions being raised about the circumstances of the Palestinian leader's eventual death.
Suha Arafat, who was once Arafat's secretary and married him in 1990, was raised as a Christian and converted to Islam before marrying. She and her husband have a 9-year-old daughter, Zahwa. Mrs. Arafat and Zahwa left Ramallah in early 2001, a few months after the outbreak of the current Palestinian intifada. She lived in Paris for several years before moving to Tunis, Tunisia.
In the event of Arafat's death, Suha Arafat would inherit her husband's assets -- which opens questions about his wealth. Arafat holds a great deal of money in the name of the Palestinian people.
Bassam Eid, a leading Palestinian activist in Ramallah, Monday rejected concerns about Palestinian funds, suggesting Arab leaders could prevent critical assets from being taken.
In meetings over the weekend, Palestinian leaders and militant groups discussed possibilities for life after Arafat, the premier symbol of the Palestinian people. (Succession)
Officials fear major violence in the event of Arafat's death. Palestinian security chiefs agreed to a plan to increase patrols in the West Bank and provide more security for Palestinian institutions and officials while Arafat is hospitalized.
Last week, the Israeli military was put on high alert after Arafat was taken to the hospital.
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