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11/04/2004:

"Hospital denies Arafat is dead"

A spokesman at the military hospital on the outskirts of Paris where Yasser Arafat is a patient today denied reports that the Palestinian leader had died.

The spokesman made a brief statement tonight shortly after a report on Israeli television, citing French medical sources, that stated that Mr Arafat was "clinically dead".

"Mr Arafat is not dead," Christian Estripeau, a spokesman for the Percy army teaching hospital in the suburb of Clamart, said.

Amid the confusion over the exact status of Mr Arafat's condition, it was clear it had significantly worsened. One unconfirmed report said he was on a life support machine.

There were conflicting statements from Palestinian officials through the day about whether the 75-year-old was in a coma or not.

Mr Estripeau told reporters that Mr Arafat remained in the intensive care unit at the hospital where he was taken for emergency treatment yesterday.

Earlier, the prime minister of Luxembourg, Jean-Claude Juncker, told reporters on arrival at a European Union summit in Brussels: "[He] passed away 15 minutes ago."

The US president, George Bush, reacting to the reports of Mr Arafat's death, said: "My first reaction is God bless his soul ... my second reaction is that we will continue to work for a free Palestinian state that's at peace with Israel."

But the Palestinian prime minister, Ahmed Qureia denied reports that Mr Arafat was clinically dead. Mr Qureia said: "I have just spoken to the officials in Paris and they say the situation is still as it was. He is still in the intensive care unit.

A source close to the Palestinian leadership had earlier described Mr Arafat's condition as "very, very grave". Saeb Erekat, a Palestinian cabinet official, however, had said reports that Mr Arafat was in a coma were "baseless". Mr Erekat said the leader's wife, Suha, had described his condition as "stable but difficult".

Israeli security chiefs and Palestinian leaders had earlier organised separate emergency meetings to discuss the 75-year-old's failing health.

In the West Bank, an official said some of the Palestinian president's powers had been handed over to his prime minister.

Mr Arafat, who has been ill for three weeks, was last week flown to hospital after briefly passing out at his headquarters in the West Bank town of Ramallah.

He was initially described as suffering from bad flu, with symptoms including vomiting and diarrhoea, and has been receiving treatment for a still unexplained blood and digestive disorder since last Friday.

Speculation in Israel has ranged from claims he is suffering from a viral infection to reports of stomach cancer.

Full Article:guardian.co.uk

So what's the mystery illness? In this day and age it's sort of ridiculous, this 'still unexplained' fatal disease. Did the Mossad slip a little something into his food or water or what?