Arafat clinging to life in coma

CLAMART, France: A gravely ill Yasser Arafat reportedly slipped into a coma and anxious Palestinian officials held an emergency meeting yesterday on how to prevent unrest as their 75-year-old leader fought to stay alive. 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, some 50 well-wishers held a vigil late into the evening. Some held candles, others Arafat portraits; a large Palestinian flag hung from the hospital’s outer wall.

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, who spoke on condition of anonymity, 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 Qureia assumed some of Arafat’s financial powers, a Palestinian official said. 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. The Israeli army, which is on high alert, has a plan to deal with the fallout from Arafat’s death, including possible Palestinian riots.