The Hindu : Front Page : Yasser Arafat in irreversible coma

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Friday, Nov 05, 2004

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Yasser Arafat in irreversible coma

By Vaiju Naravane

PARIS, NOV.4. The Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat, who, more than any other leader in West Asia, symbolised the Palestinian struggle for freedom and statehood, was declared "brain dead" in a Paris hospital today evening. Mr. Arafat's coma is irreversible but he can be kept alive artificially on life support systems for several days if necessary, hospital sources say in Paris.

Mr. Arafat, who is 75, has been ailing for over a week and his health deteriorated sharply on Wednesday night. The news that the end is imminent, although expected, has sent shock waves across the world.

State of uncertainty

Mr. Arafat's vegetative state, from which he is not expected to recover, has plunged the future of the Palestinian Authority and the Fatah movement he founded into uncertainty.

Palestine Liberation Organisation officials have been attempting to avert a power vacuum. It is not known which group or faction within Fatah will now take control. It is feared that extremist groups such as Hamas or Islamic Jihad might try to step into the void.

Throughout the day there was intense speculation on whether Mr. Arafat was alive or dead, with denials and counter denials issued by PLO leaders. The first confirmed reports that he had slipped into an irreversible coma came at 7 p.m. Paris time (11.30 p.m. Indian time) when hospital sources confirmed that he was "brain dead" but was being kept artificially alive by life support systems.

French doctors said they had conducted an electro encephalogram EEG to monitor the electrical impulses in his brain, a test used to confirm a diagnosis of "brain death." The test results were not made public.

Contradictions

Israeli military radio and private television channels reported that Mr. Arafat had died in Paris.

The Palestinian Communications Minister, Azzam al-Ahmed, and the French military hospital, however, immediately contradicted that claim saying the PLO leader "is not dead."

Although Mr. Arafat has not been officially declared dead, there is intense speculation about his burial site and funeral arrangements. "Essentially the PLO is just buying time and delaying the announcement of his death in order to avert unrest and make proper arrangements both for the funeral and for the succession," a European diplomat told The Hindu .

The Palestinian Prime Minister, Ahmed Qurei, was to head to the Gaza Strip on Friday for a meeting with top security officials in an attempt to avert violence. Mr. Qurei, however, denied reports of Mr. Arafat's death. "I have spoken to the officials in Paris and they say the situation is still as it was. He is still in the intensive care unit." The French President, Jacques Chirac, today briefly visited Mr. Arafat in hospital.

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