Leaders Prepare For Arafat’s Death as He Slips Into Deeper Coma

PARIS – A deeply comatose Yasser Arafat clung to life yesterday after suffering another downturn, his major organs still functioning but his survival dependent “on the will of God,” the Palestinian Arab foreign minister said.Palestinian Arab leaders made preparations for Mr. Arafat’s eventual death. They said they would bury Mr. Arafat at his sandbagged headquarters in the West Bank and turn the site into a shrine.But the 75-year-old leader, whose condition has steadily worsened since he was flown to a military hospital outside Paris on October 29, would not be removed from life support, the Palestinian Arab foreign minister, Nabil Shaath, said. Today, Taissir Dayut Tamimi, a top Islamic cleric, was rushing to Mr. Arafat’s hospital bedside. Mr. Shaath called Mr. Tamimi “a very close friend” of Mr. Arafat and said that “we think having a religious person beside him in these difficult moments is relevant.”He dismissed speculation that Mr. Tamimi, head of the Islamic court in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, could advise on removing Mr. Arafat from life support. “No mufti in the world has the right to do that,” Mr. Shaath said.Mr. Shaath discounted reports that Mr. Arafat’s organs had failed.“His brain, his heart, and his lungs are still functioning and he is alive,” Mr. Shaath said after he and other Palestinian Arab officials met with Mr. Arafat’s doctors, his wife and President Chirac.“He will live or die depending on his body’s ability to resist and on the will of God,” Mr. Shaath said.Mr. Shaath’s remarks at a news conference underlined that the Palestinian leadership was now in control of information about Mr. Arafat after days of confusing and often conflicting reports about his undisclosed illness. Palestinian Arab officials had been denied access by Mr. Arafat’s wife, Suha, who used France’s strict privacy laws that give authority to the family.Mr. Shaath also tried to dispel concerns about the possibility for chaos in the West Bank and Gaza Strip in the event of Mr. Arafat’s death and said the leadership transition would be smooth.On a visit to Mexico, Secretary of State Powell said the Bush administration was ready to engage with the emerging Palestinian Arab leadership to make progress toward establishing a Palestinian state at peace with Israel.Mr. Shaath was part of a senior Palestinian delegation led by Prime Minister Qurei and Mahmoud Abbas, the no. 2 man behind Mr. Arafat in the Palestine Liberation Organization. The group left for Jordan late last night after a 24-hour visit to the French capital.The Palestinian deputy Parliament speaker, Hassan Khreishe, said that leaders decided Mr. Arafat should be buried at his West Bank headquarters, known as the Muqata.The decision was likely to head off a fight with Israel’s government over a grave site for Mr. Arafat. Palestinian Arab officials had wanted to bury their leader in Jerusalem, which they claim as the capital of their envisioned state, but Israel refused.A top aide to Prime Minister Sharon, Asaf Shariv, said the government would consider Ramallah as a burial site. Palestinian Arab officials said Egypt’s government offered late last night to hold a memorial service for Mr. Arafat in Cairo before a Ramallah burial and they said the proposal was being considered.A Palestinian Arab official stressed that a Ramallah grave would only be considered temporary, with the ultimate goal remaining burial in Jerusalem. The official said the decision to create a burial shrine at the Muqata was made by Mr. Qurei and Mr. Abbas, the caretaker leaders during Mr. Arafat’s illness.

Leaders Prepare For Arafat’s Death as He Slips Into Deeper Coma

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