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Junkie
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Arafat in coma
Quote:
Arafat reportedly close to death
November 5, 2004 - 10:04AM
A gravely ill Yasser Arafat reportedly slipped into a coma and anxious Palestinian officials held an emergency meeting on how to prevent unrest as their 75-year-old leader lay close to death.
A swirl of reports saying Arafat had died were quashed by doctors at a French military hospital where the Palestinian leader has been treated since being airlifted to France last week.
Arafat's aides, however, acknowledged that his condition was very serious.
A senior Palestinian official said Arafat was in a coma in the intensive care unit.
Arafat's chief of staff, Ramzi Khoury, called an Associated Press reporter and said: "I am standing next to the president's bed, he is in grave condition".
Outside the hospital, 50 wellwishers held a vigil late into the evening. Some held candles, others Arafat portraits; a large Palestinian flag hung from the hospital's outer wall.
"It tears your heart up," said Mahmod Nimr, 36, an unemployed Palestinian by the main gate of the hospital.
"I can't see someone taking his place."
On a day of high drama, there were persistent and contradictory reports about Arafat's condition.
Luxembourg's prime minister announced at a summit of European leaders in Brussels that Arafat had died, but his spokesman later said it had been a "misunderstanding".
The Israeli television network Channel Two reported that Arafat was brain dead but remained on life support. But Arafat's personal physician, Dr Ashraf Kurdi, said that a brain scan showed Arafat had not suffered a haemorrhage or stroke, and "has no type of brain death".
Brain death occurs when the brain stops working, making it impossible for the body to maintain its own vital functions, such as breathing. It is irreversible. Patients can be kept alive by a machine, as long as the heart is still beating and nothing is seriously wrong with the rest of the body.
French television station LCI quoted an anonymous French medical official as saying Arafat was in an "irreversible coma" and "intubated" - a process that involves threading a tube down the windpipe to the lungs to connect it to a life-support machine to help the patient breathe.
To be on life-support, a patient must be unconscious, but not necessarily brain dead or even in a coma.
A Palestinian official in Gaza who is close to Arafat's wife, Suha, said she told him Arafat fell unconscious after receiving a strong anaesthetic for a biopsy.
The official quoted her as saying Arafat was recovering.
Palestinian leaders held an emergency meeting in the West Bank, and Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath said top officials were in touch with Arafat's hospital every 30 minutes to check on his condition.
Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurie had assumed some of Arafat's financial powers, a Palestinian official said.
"The Palestinian leadership is in constant meeting to follow up on the president's health," Shaath said from Ramallah, where leaders of the PLO and Arafat's Fatah movement were meeting.
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.
Former Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas said Qurie would go to the Gaza Strip on Saturday to order security chiefs to show solidarity and not fight during this difficult time, a Palestinian official said.
The Israeli army, which is on high alert, has a plan to deal with the fallout from Arafat's death, including possible Palestinian riots.
The Israeli military had not yet moved forces to anticipated problem areas, but commanders were told to be on standby.
Among Israel's plans are ways to prevent Arafat from being buried in Jerusalem. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has said he would not permit Arafat to be buried in the city, claimed by both Israel and the Palestinians as their capital.
Army chiefs said they were opposed to Arafat's burial in Jerusalem or the nearby suburb of Abu Dis in the West Bank. Arafat's family has a plot in the Gaza Strip.
Arafat was taken to intensive care after his condition worsened on Thursday. French President Jacques Chirac went to the hospital 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.
French physicians have not revealed Arafat's illness and his condition has largely remained a mystery.
© 2004 AP
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REF: http://www.smh.com.au/news/World/Ara...547356254.html
It seems a bit petty, if not downright malicious, to prevent his possible burial in Jerusalem. There's also the issue of the instability his death would bring to the region. Like him or not, he is the leader of the Palestinians and a "national" icon to them. Who knows what will happen, as there is no real clear replacement.
And, I know this is probably a pointless appeal, but can we keep the invective to a minimum in this thread?
Mr Mephisto |