Arafat's condition worsens as Palestinian officials argue with wife over access to his bedside
CLAMART, France (AP) - Yasser Arafat is in a coma and his condition worsened overnight, a hospital spokesman said Tuesday, as Palestinian officials sought to visit their critically ill leader over his wife's angry objections.
The announcement by Gen. Christian Estripeau, spokesman for the Percy Military Training Hospital outside Paris, was the first time the French medical team treating Arafat publicly acknowledged that the 75-year-old is in a coma -- and has been for the past week.
"President Yasser Arafat's health worsened in the night," said Estripeau. "His coma, which led to his admission to the intensive care unit, became deeper this morning." Arafat was put in intensive care on Oct. 3, five days after he was rushed to France.
Estripeau said doctors were withholding a prognosis but that his deterioration marked ‘‘a significant stage."
The announcement came amid a dramatic dispute between Arafat's wife, Suha, and Palestinian officials whom she accused of trying to usurp the veteran leader. The Palestinians, including top Arafat lieutenants Ahmed Qureia and Mahmoud Abbas, flew to Paris late Monday.
The delegation met with Arafat's doctors early Tuesday afternoon for a detailed briefing on his condition, said the Palestinian leader's financial adviser, Mohammed
Rashid.
"They're sitting face-to-face with the medical team," he told Al-Arabiya television.
The Palestinians also planned meetings with French officials, including President Jacques Chirac and Foreign Minister Michel Barnier.
But how close they would get to Arafat's bedside remained unclear. A Palestinian official in Paris who refused to be further identified said that apart from Suha, the only person who has been able to see Arafat is his nephew Nasser Al-Kidwa -- and that he was reported to have seen his uncle only once.
The Palestinians' trip was abruptly canceled but then rescheduled Monday after Mrs. Arafat accused them of wanting to usurp his four-decade-long role as Palestinian leader.
"I tell you they are trying to bury Abu Ammar alive," she shouted, using Arafat's nom de guerre, in a furious telephone call early Monday to Al-Jazeera television.
As next of kin, Mrs. Arafat has been controlling who has access to her ailing husband. ‘‘He is all right, and he is going home," she insisted.
A coma is a profound state of unconsciousness. Patients are alive but unable to move or respond to their environment. There are several levels of coma and patients may, or may not, progress through them. The responsiveness of the brain lessens as the coma deepens and when it becomes more profound, normal body reflexes are lost and the patient no longer responds even to pain.
The chances of recovery depend on the severity of the underlying cause. It is unclear whether a deeper coma alone necessarily means a slimmer chance of recovery because some people in deep coma recover well while others in a so-called milder coma sometimes fail to improve.
Mrs. Arafat's accusation outraged the Palestinian leadership and set the stage for a dramatic showdown that could inflame a tense power struggle between Arafat's longtime lieutenants and his wife.
Hospital officials said Monday that visiting rights were restricted. But French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier suggested Tuesday that the Palestinian delegation would be permitted to see Arafat, saying it was only "natural."
"All that will be decided at the hospital, with the doctors and the wife," Barnier told France-2 television.
Qureia, the Palestinian prime minister, and Abbas, a former prime minister and deputy chairman of Arafat's Palestine Liberation Organization, checked into a hotel a few miles from Arafat's hospital in southwest Paris. They were accompanied by Palestinian Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath and Parliament Speaker Rauhi Fattouh.
Some Palestinians have complained Mrs. Arafat has gained too much power, as she controls the flow of information about her husband's condition and has taken charge of access to the ailing leader.
Palestinians have been making contingency plans in the event of Arafat's death. Qureia has assumed some emergency financial and administrative powers. Abbas has chaired a series of meetings of the PLO executive committee. But neither politician has much grass-roots support among Palestinians or important militant groups.
Suha Arafat, his wife of 13 years and mother of his daughter, seems to have aligned herself with hard-liners who apparently seek to take over the Palestinian leadership in a post-Arafat era, though some Palestinian officials said her motives are more financial.
According to a senior official in Arafat's office, she has received monthly payments of $100,000 from Palestinian coffers and is widely believed to have control of vast funds collected by the PLO.
This year, French prosecutors launched a money-laundering investigation into transfers of $11.4 million into her accounts. She has refused to talk to reporters about Palestinian finances. Mrs. Arafat, 41, lives in Paris and has not been to the West Bank since the latest round of Palestinian violence began in 2000. That's the last time she also saw her husband before he fell ill.
The announcement by Gen. Christian Estripeau, spokesman for the Percy Military Training Hospital outside Paris, was the first time the French medical team treating Arafat publicly acknowledged that the 75-year-old is in a coma -- and has been for the past week.
"President Yasser Arafat's health worsened in the night," said Estripeau. "His coma, which led to his admission to the intensive care unit, became deeper this morning." Arafat was put in intensive care on Oct. 3, five days after he was rushed to France.
Estripeau said doctors were withholding a prognosis but that his deterioration marked ‘‘a significant stage."
The announcement came amid a dramatic dispute between Arafat's wife, Suha, and Palestinian officials whom she accused of trying to usurp the veteran leader. The Palestinians, including top Arafat lieutenants Ahmed Qureia and Mahmoud Abbas, flew to Paris late Monday.
The delegation met with Arafat's doctors early Tuesday afternoon for a detailed briefing on his condition, said the Palestinian leader's financial adviser, Mohammed
Rashid.
"They're sitting face-to-face with the medical team," he told Al-Arabiya television.
The Palestinians also planned meetings with French officials, including President Jacques Chirac and Foreign Minister Michel Barnier.
But how close they would get to Arafat's bedside remained unclear. A Palestinian official in Paris who refused to be further identified said that apart from Suha, the only person who has been able to see Arafat is his nephew Nasser Al-Kidwa -- and that he was reported to have seen his uncle only once.
The Palestinians' trip was abruptly canceled but then rescheduled Monday after Mrs. Arafat accused them of wanting to usurp his four-decade-long role as Palestinian leader.
"I tell you they are trying to bury Abu Ammar alive," she shouted, using Arafat's nom de guerre, in a furious telephone call early Monday to Al-Jazeera television.
As next of kin, Mrs. Arafat has been controlling who has access to her ailing husband. ‘‘He is all right, and he is going home," she insisted.
A coma is a profound state of unconsciousness. Patients are alive but unable to move or respond to their environment. There are several levels of coma and patients may, or may not, progress through them. The responsiveness of the brain lessens as the coma deepens and when it becomes more profound, normal body reflexes are lost and the patient no longer responds even to pain.
The chances of recovery depend on the severity of the underlying cause. It is unclear whether a deeper coma alone necessarily means a slimmer chance of recovery because some people in deep coma recover well while others in a so-called milder coma sometimes fail to improve.
Mrs. Arafat's accusation outraged the Palestinian leadership and set the stage for a dramatic showdown that could inflame a tense power struggle between Arafat's longtime lieutenants and his wife.
Hospital officials said Monday that visiting rights were restricted. But French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier suggested Tuesday that the Palestinian delegation would be permitted to see Arafat, saying it was only "natural."
"All that will be decided at the hospital, with the doctors and the wife," Barnier told France-2 television.
Qureia, the Palestinian prime minister, and Abbas, a former prime minister and deputy chairman of Arafat's Palestine Liberation Organization, checked into a hotel a few miles from Arafat's hospital in southwest Paris. They were accompanied by Palestinian Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath and Parliament Speaker Rauhi Fattouh.
Some Palestinians have complained Mrs. Arafat has gained too much power, as she controls the flow of information about her husband's condition and has taken charge of access to the ailing leader.
Palestinians have been making contingency plans in the event of Arafat's death. Qureia has assumed some emergency financial and administrative powers. Abbas has chaired a series of meetings of the PLO executive committee. But neither politician has much grass-roots support among Palestinians or important militant groups.
Suha Arafat, his wife of 13 years and mother of his daughter, seems to have aligned herself with hard-liners who apparently seek to take over the Palestinian leadership in a post-Arafat era, though some Palestinian officials said her motives are more financial.
According to a senior official in Arafat's office, she has received monthly payments of $100,000 from Palestinian coffers and is widely believed to have control of vast funds collected by the PLO.
This year, French prosecutors launched a money-laundering investigation into transfers of $11.4 million into her accounts. She has refused to talk to reporters about Palestinian finances. Mrs. Arafat, 41, lives in Paris and has not been to the West Bank since the latest round of Palestinian violence began in 2000. That's the last time she also saw her husband before he fell ill.
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