ARAFAT

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CAIRO, Egypt -- (AP) -- Yemen's news agency says Egyptian president tells Yemeni counterpart that Cairo is willing to host Yasser Arafat's funeral, before he is buried in the West Bank.

AP-ES-11-09-04 1659EST

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.

Les vies de Yasser Arafat

Cahier spécial

Proche-Orient : quel avenir après Arafat ?

L'intégralité du débat avec Gilles Paris, correspondant du "Monde" en Israël, mardi 9 novembre.

Circuits financiers occultes et magot en millions de dollars

Selon "Forbes", la fortune du chef palestinien vient deux rangs après celle d'Elizabeth II.

Lorsqu'en juin 2002, imposé par la communauté internationale et soutenu par George W. Bush, Salam Fayyad, un ancien du Fonds monétaire international (FMI), est nommé ministre des finances de l'Autorité palestinienne, sa mission est claire : mettre fin aux pratiques financières peu orthodoxes auxquelles s'étaient habitués Yasser Arafat et ses lieutenants, et amorcer un début de transparence.

Selon un rapport du Fonds monétaire international publié en septembre 2003 et confirmé par les investigations de M. Fayyad, le chef de l'OLP aurait détourné plusieurs centaines de millions de dollars des caisses de l'Autorité pa- lestinienne. Ce siphonnage aurait débuté en 1994 et se serait accéléré en 1996, lorsque Yasser Arafat, élu président de l'Autorité palestinienne, en a pris les rênes financières. Jusqu'à l'arrivée de M. Fayyad, le chef de l'OLP gérait de façon discrétionnaire le moindre dollar qui entrait et qui sortait des caisses. Un seul homme connaissait les arcanes de ces transactions : Mohammed Rachid, un ancien journaliste kurde irakien, dont Arafat avait fait, depuis les années 1980, son conseiller financier personnel. Depuis ces années-là, les deux hommes ont, semble-t-il, pratiqué la confusion des genres.

Comment ? En détournant une partie des taxes sur les carburants collectées par les Israéliens pour le compte de l'Autorité palestinienne. Entre 1996 et 1999, affirme le FMI, ces sommes ont été reversées sur un compte de la banque Leumi à Tel-Aviv. Les deux hommes prélevaient également une partie des droits de douane, ainsi que la TVA récupérée sur les produits importés en Palestine.

Toujours selon le FMI, ils ponctionnaient également la trésorerie des entreprises publiques, en particulier les monopoles de distribution de ciment, de tabac ou de farine. Le plus juteux semble avoir été celui du pétrole, par le biais de l'entreprise d'Etat General Petroleum Corporation. Selon les investigations menées par une équipe de contrôleurs financiers pour le compte de M. Fayyad, l'entreprise coupait le pétrole acheté à une compagnie israélienne avec du kérosène mais vendait au prix fort. Salam Fayyad a, depuis, démantelé l'entreprise.

PORTEFEUILLE D'ACTIONS

Au total, le FMI a découvert que quelque 900 millions de dollars de fonds publics n'ont pas intégré le budget officiel entre 1995 et 2002, et n'a pas réussi à identifier la destination d'environ 300 millions de dollars. Le reste a été placé sur un compte contrôlé par le ministre des finances palestinien.

Mais les limiers de M. Fayyad vont plus loin. L'un d'eux, Jim Prince, cité par CBS, affirme que, pour se maintenir politiquement, Yasser Arafat a non seulement détourné ces sommes, mais qu'il détient aussi un portefeuille d'actions - dans des compagnies comme Coca-Cola, une compagnie tunisienne de téléphones portables ou encore des fonds de placement logés dans des paradis fiscaux - d'une valeur de près de 1 milliard de dollars.

Quel est le montant de la fortune que va laisser Yasser Arafat ? Le mystère demeure. On sait que le chef de l'OLP n'a jamais mené grand train, même avant qu'il ne soit assigné à résidence dans son QG de la Mouqata'a. Mais Yasser Arafat a toujours eu besoin d'argent pour consolider son pouvoir, s'attirer des fidélités, calmer certains groupes. Sa générosité aurait aussi profité à son épouse, Souha. L'année dernière, la Banque de France et Tracfin, la cellule chargée de la lutte contre le blanchiment, ont découvert qu'elle avait reçu sur ses comptes parisiens, entre juilllet 2002 et juillet 2003, plusieurs versements en provenance de Suisse, d'un total de 9 millions d'euros. Une enquête est en cours sur ces transferts. Tout comme se poursuit celle menée par l'Office européen de lutte antifraude (OLAF) sur la destination réelle d'une partie de l'aide européenne.

Dans son édition 2003, le magazine américain Forbes, qui dresse chaque année la liste des milliardaires de la planète, a placé Yasser Arafat en sixième position dans la catégorie "royals and rulers", deux rangs après la reine d'Angleterre. Selon le magazine, Yasser Arafat disposerait d'une fortune d'au moins 300 millions de dollars.

Babette Stern LE MONDE

Heure par heure de l'état de Yasser Arafat

LEMONDE.FR 09.11.04 16h11 • MIS A JOUR LE 09.11.04 19h18

ARAFAT

#14404 BULLETINS APNEWSALERT BULLETIN APD0387 NEWS LIVE 11/09 12:43 .69
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PARIS -- (AP) -- Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath says no immediate plans to send Yasser Arafat back home.

AP-ES-11-09-04 1244EST

ARAFAT

#7992 BULLETINS APNEWSALERT BULLETIN APD0375 NEWS LIVE 11/09 12:24 .97
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RAMALLAH, West Bank -- (AP) -- Deputy speaker of Palestinian parliament says Yasser Arafat would be buried at his Ramallah headquarters.

AP-ES-11-09-04 1224EST

ARAFAT

#117062 BULLETINS APNEWSALERT BULLETIN APD0367 NEWS LIVE 11/09 12:15 .69
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PARIS -- (AP) -- Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath says euthanasia is "ruled out'' for Yasser Arafat.

AP-ES-11-09-04 1216EST

ARAFAT

#72572 BULLETINS APNEWSALERT BULLETIN APD0365 NEWS LIVE 11/09 12:11 .83
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PARIS -- (AP) -- Yasser Arafat's brain, heart and lungs still function and he is alive, Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath says.

AP-ES-11-09-04 1212EST

ARAFAT

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WASHINGTON -- (AP) -- Adviser to Yasser Arafat said Tuesday the leader of the Palestinian Liberation Organization is near death.

AP-ES-11-09-04 1112EST

ARAFAT

#157715 BULLETINS APNEWSALERT BULLETIN APD0329 NEWS LIVE 11/09 11:09 .83
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RAMALLAH, West Bank -- (AP) -- Palestinian leaders say they'll be meeting through the night at Yasser Arafat's headquarters.

AP-ES-11-09-04 1110EST

ALERT Arafat

#64362 BULLETINS APNEWSALERT BULLETIN APD0313 NEWS LIVE 11/09 10:58 .83
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RAMALLAH, West Bank -- (AP) -- Palestinian official tells news conference Yasser Arafat suffering from brain hemorrhage.

AP-ES-11-09-04 1058EST

Arafat's Top Lieutenants Head to Paris

Suha Arafat accused the leadership of OLP of usurping her husband's role as head of the Palestinian Authority

CLAMART, France (AP) - Palestinian leaders rushed to Paris on Monday to check on the critically ill Yasser Arafat, but hospital officials said visiting rights were restricted - setting the stage for a dramatic showdown between the delegation and Arafat's wife.

Early Monday, Suha Arafat accused the leadership - including top lieutenants Ahmed Qureia and Mahmoud Abbas - of coming to the French capital with the sole intention of usurping her husband's role as head of the Palestinian Authority.

"I tell you they are trying to bury Abu Ammar alive," she shouted, using Arafat's nom de guerre, in a furious telephone call with Al-Jazeera television from the 75-year-old Arafat's bedside in a hospital southwest of Paris.

"He is all right, and he is going home," she insisted.

Tayeb Abdel Rahim, a senior Arafat aide, called a news conference in the West Bank to dispute the claims. "What came from Mrs. Arafat doesn't represent our people," he said, accusing her of wanting "to be the lone decision maker."

And Palestinian Cabinet minister Salah Taamri said, "We are Yasser Arafat's family. We knew Yasser Arafat even before Mrs. Suha Arafat was born. We care for Yasser Arafat and no one has the right to deny the truth from the Palestinian people."

The Palestinian leadership abruptly called off the Paris trip, then reversed its decision. Qureia, the Palestinian prime minister, and Abbas, a former prime minister and the current PLO deputy chairman, landed in France late Monday on a private jet.

The prospect of their being barred from Arafat's hospital bedside was bound to inflame an increasingly tense power struggle.

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 probe into transfers of $11.4 million into her accounts. She has refused to talk to reporters about Palestinian finances. Suha Arafat, 41, lives in Paris and has not been to the West Bank or seen her husband since the latest round of Palestinian violence began in 2000.

Some Palestinians have complained Suha 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.

"She is not part of the Palestinian leadership," Arafat security adviser Jibril Rajoub told Israel's Channel Two TV.

On their trip to Paris, Qureia and Abbas, who is considered a likely successor to Arafat, were accompanied by Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath and Parliament Speaker Rauhi Fattouh. They drove straight from the airport in a nine-car convoy to a hotel a few miles from the hospital.

"Tomorrow they will see the French officials and visit President Arafat in his hospital," said Nabil Abu Rdeneh, one of Arafat's senior aides. They were also to meet French President Jacques Chirac.

Arafat was in intensive care Monday and his condition had not changed, a hospital spokesman said.

"He remains there and his condition is stable," spokesman Gen. Christian Estripeau told reporters at the Percy Military Training Hospital. However, "the medical situation of President Arafat compels us to restrict visitors," he added.

Estripeau said Arafat had "blood anomalies" when he was hospitalized Oct. 29 and that, under treatment, his condition initially improved.

But, "after a phase of five days ... the state of health of President Yasser Arafat became worrisome and necessitated his transfer into intensive care," he added.

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.