Arafat remains in coma, but condition no worse

PARIS – A French hospital official, speaking hours after an aide said Yasser Arafat had slipped into a coma, said late Friday that the Palestinian leader’s condition had not deteriorated further.

“The state of health of President Yasser Arafat has not gotten worse,” said Gen. Christian Estripeau, the chief physician at the hospital in suburban Paris where the 75-year-old Palestinian leader has been under treatment for the past week for a still-undisclosed illness. “He is considered to be stable.”

Early Friday, Leila Shahid, the Palestinian envoy to France, told French radio that Arafat was in a coma and hovering “between life and death,” but gave no details. She explicitly denied reports he was brain-dead.

In the Palestinian territories, Arafat’s people seemed to be bracing for the likelihood of his demise, or at least his disappearance from any leadership role.

“He is the one who protected our land and our people,” said Mahmout Zakkout, a 23-year-old university student in the Gaza Strip. “For that, we respected him.”

Gaza was the scene of a meeting Friday among rival Palestinian factions seeking to demonstrate unity in the face of what many believe is Arafat’s imminent death.

Arafat has anointed no successor, and even before he fell ill three weeks ago, the Palestinian territories had been roiled by internal disputes. Gaza had been the scene of the worst unrest.

“We are here today to reflect our unity,” said Mohammed Hindi, a spokesman for the Islamic Jihad militant group, one of those attending a gathering at the Palestinian parliament building in Gaza City.

Israeli officials have been focusing on scenarios of potential unrest if Arafat does die. The biggest source of tension, in their view, is his funeral.

The most senior Islamic cleric in the Palestinian territories declared Friday that Arafat wanted to be buried in Jerusalem.

“From a religious perspective, we must and need to honor his will,” said the mufti of Jerusalem, Ikrema Sabri.

The holy city is claimed by both Israel and the Palestinians as their capital, and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has said there is no way he will allow Arafat to be laid to rest in Jerusalem. The Palestinian leader’s clan has a burial plot in the Gaza Strip.

“We have no problem with Gaza (as a burial site),” Israeli Justice Minister Tommy Lapid told Israeli television.

Palestinian leaders have signaled their intention to fight for Arafat to be buried at the Al Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem’s walled Old City, one of the most sensitive – and hotly disputed – of the region’s holy sites.

Arafat’s funeral would likely be attended by a range of dignitaries from throughout the Arab world, despite the fact that he had quarreled bitterly with many of them.

Israel’s refusal to allow him to be buried anywhere in Jerusalem stems in part from military intelligence warnings that a mass funeral march could spiral out of control and allow would-be attackers to slip into Israel proper.

Palestinian officials said they were offended by the notion that the funeral would be used as cover to stage attacks.

Arafat was airlifted to France on Oct. 29 after falling ill at his West Bank compound, where he had been under effective house arrest for nearly three years. His aides variously described him as suffering from a bad case of flu or gallstones; Israeli intelligence has speculated he has a serious viral infection or cancer of the blood or intestinal tract.

In Arafat’s absence, former Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas and the current prime minister, Ahmed Qureia, have taken on what Palestinian officials say is temporary responsibility for day-to-day governmental affairs. Privately, many Palestinians say they believe the two will share leadership, at least in the short term, once it becomes clear that Arafat is either dead or incapacitated.