Posted on 11/04/2004 9:50:59 AM PST by PurVirgo
November 4, 2004 12:08 PM EST
PARIS - Luxembourg's prime minister told reporters Thursday that Yasser Arafat had died, but doctors treating the Palestinian leader near Paris said he was still alive.
The conflicting statements came after Arafat's condition sharply worsened and aides said he was in a coma.
Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker, arriving for a European summit in Brussels, Belgium, said Arafat had died.
"Mr. Arafat died 15 minutes ago," Juncker told reporters about 6 p.m., at almost the same time doctors were briefing reporters on Arafat's condition in Paris.
But Christian Estripeau, head of communications for French military health services, denied the report.
"Mr. Arafat is not dead," he said. "The clinical situation of the first few days following admission has become more complex."
Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia said there had been no change in Arafat's condition.
Arafat's chief of staff, Ramzi Khoury, called an Associated Press reporter and told him: "I am standing next to the president's bed, he is in grave condition."
Arafat's personal physician, Dr. Ashraf Kurdi, told Israel TV's Channel Two that Arafat was still alive.
Arafat was taken to intensive care after his condition worsened. French President Jacques Chirac went to the hospital Thursday and saw Arafat and his wife, "to whom he expressed his best wishes," Chirac's office said. The president also met members of the Palestinian Authority and doctors "who are doing everything possible for the health of the president," Chirac's office said.
French television station LCI quoted an anonymous French medical official as saying Arafat was in an "irreversible coma" and "intubated" - a process that usually involves threading a tube down the windpipe to the lungs. The tube is often connected to a life support machine to help the patient breathe.
A prolonged Arafat incapacitation - or death - could have profound impact on the Middle East. There are fears of unrest among Palestinian factions, which Arafat, viewed as a national symbol by even some who opposed him, was largely able to prevent. Furthermore, chaos in the West Bank and Gaza could make any cooperation with Israel even more difficult.
On the other hand, Israel and the United States have in recent years shunned Arafat as a terrorist and an obstacle to peace, and his replacement by a new leadership could open the door to renewed peace talks. Such a scenario could affect Israel's current plans to pull soldiers and settlers out of the Gaza Strip in a unilateral move not coordinated with the Palestinians.
Arafat was rushed to the Percy Military Training Hospital outside Paris for emergency treatment Friday. Since then, his condition has largely remained a mystery, with Palestinians issuing conflicting reports.
Chirac did it.
The pillow must not have been dense enough. Need a spongy substance.
Arafat not dead yet? Keep trying!
Soon... very soon....
He's simply pining for the fjords.
Actually it was a pet shop owner that denied his death. The press got this wrong.
Yeah, meant to post that twice. Uh-huh.
'E's only resting!
Or possibly pining for the fiords of Palestine.
> "Mr. Arafat is not dead," he said.
> "The clinical situation of the first few
> days following admission has become more complex."
A new disease: Terminal Nuance
if the machines are switched off-he's dead
so....
FREE CANDY!!!! FREE CANDY!!!
I got the Happy Feet and just can't stop dancing!
I heard he's brain dead. If you keep the machines going, his heart keeps pumping, so it looks like he's still alive. And the doctor can claim he's still alive. I think they are keeping him alive artificially.
Seems to be an epidemic of that lately.
He's Alive!
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