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DanB
11-04-2004, 10:32 AM
Official: Yasser Arafat in a comma
11/4/2004 10:28:00 AM GMT


Arafat’s health has been deteriorating over the past two weeks

The Palestinian leader's top aide reported on Thursday that Arafat was in a coma and in critical condition in the intensive care unit at a French military hospital after his health suddenly deteriorated on Wednesday.

The officials, who demanded anonymity, said the Palestinian leader's health has seriously deteriorated Wednesday and he was rushed into intensive care at the French military hospital where he’s undergoing treatment.

Doctors have been carrying out tests on Arafat since he arrived in France last Friday, yet haven’t determined what caused the blood and digestive disorders, despite ruling out leukemia.

"He is in serious condition and in the intensive care unit where he was moved on Wednesday at around 5 p.m. (11 a.m. EST)," a senior Arafat aide said on Thursday.

"New tests have been carried out including an endoscopy (visual internal examination). Nothing was found out from those tests."

Israeli media said that Arafat is suffering organ failure and that he had lost consciousness several times. The Maariv daily said Arafat's condition was "very critical."

French hospital and military officials declined to comment on the Israeli media report.

"These unfounded reports are not coming from French medical teams, these are leaks from the Israeli side," said Mohammed Dahlan, a former Palestinian security chief.

"Leaking such rumors will only complicate things and also complicate the situation within the Palestinian public," he told reporters in Paris.

Early Thursday Khaled Salem, Arafat's top aide, said that the medical analysis was "deepening a little bit", yet he said that he was sure Arafat would recover.

"There are no setbacks," he told reporters outside the hospital. "It's no secret he's ill, that's why he's in France, but there is no threat, there is no danger, no serious degradation."

On the other hand, top Israeli security officials are meeting Thursday to discuss how the situation in the Middle East would be like in case the Palestinian leader died, said Israeli officials speaking on condition of anonymity.

Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz and Army Chief Lt. Gen. Moshe Yaalon are to attend Thursday’s meeting, the officials said.

Speculation in Israel has ranged from a viral infection to stomach cancer.

Leila Shahid, the Palestinian envoy to France who has been serving as Arafat's official spokeswoman in Paris couldn’t be reached for further comment.

Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said Israel is tracking Arafat's health "very carefully.

"Our goal is to prepare for the day after, if and when he dies," he told Israel Radio.

Last weekend, the ailing Palestinian leader flew France, to get the needed medical treatment at a French Army teaching hospital southwest of Paris, specialized in blood disorders and trauma care.

Arafat’s health has been deteriorating over the past two weeks, his aids reported that he was suffering from vomiting and diarrhea. But last Wednesday he started briefly losing consciousness.

At first, low blood platelet count raised fears of leukemia, but Palestinian officials said that doctors have ruled out all forms of cancer.

Source (http://www.aljazeera.com/cgi-bin/news_service/middle_east_full_story.asp?service_id=5488)

Afronaut
11-04-2004, 10:49 AM
Just saw that on Finnish news channel.
I wonder was this a direct result of Bush been elected.

I know it sounds a bit harsh but couldnt stop posting it...

DanB
11-04-2004, 10:59 AM
Just saw that on Finnish news channel.
I wonder was this a direct result of Bush been elected.

I know it sounds a bit harsh but couldnt stop posting it...

:lol: I thought it, just didn't post it


Seriously though, I have heard the idea of poisoning being talked about though

SeK612
11-04-2004, 01:36 PM
I'd heard Israel might be behind the possible poisoning (I wonder if it were poison would the French doctors be able to reveal it or would it be covered up). I'm not sure a power vacuum in Palestine would be ideal for the Israeli’s though (what happens if one of the terrorist factions try to claim power?).

ilw
11-04-2004, 05:15 PM
PM Ahmed Qurei and other officials tried to put a brave face on events
French doctors treating Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat have denied Israeli TV reports that he has died.

Israel's Channel Two television quoted unnamed sources in Paris which said Mr Arafat underwent a brain scan and was "no longer alive". Mr Arafat, 75, was flown to a military hospital in Paris last week. He has led the Palestinians since the 1960s.

"Mr Arafat is not dead," said head physician Christian Estripeau in a brief statement outside the military hospital.

An emergency meeting of top Palestinian officials has taken place in the West Bank to discuss the crisis. At his Palestinian Authority headquarters in the West Bank city of Ramallah, officials stated publicly that Mr Arafat was "absolutely not in a coma".

But sources close to his entourage in Paris said he had fallen unconscious three times in the past two days, and had not regained consciousness the third time.

BBC correspondent James Reynolds says that, while public statements from Palestinian officials in Ramallah remain positive, their expressions suggest the situation of their leader is serious.

Officials gathered for meetings of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation decision-making executive committee and the Fatah movement central committee - both of which have been headed by Mr Arafat for more than 40 years.

"The condition of the president is difficult, but he is stable and doctors are continuing their tests," senior Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat told the AFP news agency.

Doctors say they have found no trace of leukaemia or any other cancer. They have been checking for a viral infection.

French President Jacques Chirac has visited Mr Arafat, but a presidential spokeswoman who announced the visit did not give any details about the patient's state of health.

It was a brief visit in which the president "expressed his best wishes" to Mr Arafat's wife, his office said.

Tests have shown that he has a low count of blood platelets, which are needed for clotting, but doctors are unsure of what is causing the condition.


Sounds like he's in a persistent vegetative state and the other palestinian officials are covering until they have a clue what to do.

DanB
11-04-2004, 05:24 PM
Oh dear, I'm sure this won't be good

krome
11-04-2004, 05:25 PM
i just heard he died , in the news

DanB
11-04-2004, 05:31 PM
Seems Israel are saying his clinically brain dead while the Fench doctors and Palestine officials are dnying it

Spam-King
11-04-2004, 07:25 PM
I hope he's not

who's going to be pestines new leader?

all hell is going to break loose

DanB
11-05-2004, 12:30 PM
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3984711.stm


Apparently he is in a reversible coma now

cpt_azad
11-06-2004, 12:28 AM
that's great, another ME war or civil uprising is what I predict.