Arafat is 'stable' in Paris hospital

Clinging on to life in a French hospital, Yasser Arafat was unaware tonight of the growing row over where he will be buried.

Christian Estripeau, the head of communications for French military health services, gave a brief update on the Palestinian leader’s condition this evening that left many unanswered questions.

He said the ailing 75-year-old’s condition has not changed in the last day

“The state of President Yasser Arafat’s health has not worsened. It is considered stable since the previous health bulletin,” he said.

The announcement was made in accordance with “the discretion” demanded by Arafat’s family, said Estripeau. He would not answer any questions.

The lack on information from the military hospital on the outskirts of Paris has helped fuel the rumours and speculation over the seriousness of Arafat’s condition.

Earlier today, a Palestinian diplomat said Arafat was in a coma but was not brain dead.

However, Leila Shahid, the Palestinian envoy to France, acknowledged that the ailing Palestinian leader was ”between life and death.”

Shahid strongly denied persistent reports in French and Israeli media that Arafat was being kept alive on life support.

Arafat arrived at the hospital a week ago and has since undergone a battery of tests. But doctors still have announced no diagnosis.

In the Mideast, rival Palestinian factions sat down together in the Gaza Strip, seeking unity and calm in the face of uncertainty.

Arafat has not appointed a successor and it appears that in the transition period, the Palestinians will be led by a collective, headed by Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia and Arafat’s number two in the PLO, Mahmoud Abbas.

Much will depend on how well the two men get along, since the division of powers is not clearly defined. As prime minister, Qureia is to deal with day-to-day affairs of governing, while Abbas is to handle diplomacy, Palestinian officials said.

In Gaza City, representatives of 13 Palestinian factions, including Fatah and the two Islamic militant groups, met at the parliament building to find ways to try to ensure calm during Arafat’s absence.

“We are here today to reflect our unity,” said Mohammed al Hindi, a spokesman for the Islamic Jihad group. “We are one nation looking for its freedom and fighting for its land and we are not separate groups fighting here and there.”

However, the situation is delicate, particularly in Gaza where rival groups of gunmen and security officials have fought each other in the streets, jockeying for power ahead of Israel’s planned withdrawal from Gaza in 2005. Arafat has been a unifying force, despite growing frustration over his corruption-plagued rule.

Qureia was to have visited Gaza for meetings with security chiefs today, but postponed his trip to Saturday, at the earliest.

Israel is determined that Arafat will not be buried in Jerusalem.

Justice Minister Yosef Lapid said: “It is clear that he will not be buried in Jerusalem, and that he will not be buried on the Temple Mount.

Burial in Jerusalem would be seen as strengthening Palestinian claims to the traditionally Arab sector of the city as a future capital.

Israeli security officials said Gaza was the only burial option, and that they opposed allowing Arafat to be buried in the West Bank, including the Jerusalem suburb of Abu Dis.

However, Arafat has asked to be buried in Jerusalem, the top Muslim cleric in the city said today in the first official comment on his burial wishes.

He said Arafat made the request during a meeting four months ago.

“The president has shown a desire to be buried in Jerusalem, and in a place that is close to the Al Aqsa Mosque,” Sabri said, adding that he didn’t know if there is a written will.

The Al Aqsa compound is Islam’s third holiest shrine and is revered by Jews as the Temple Mount, or site of the biblical Jewish temples.

Palestinian leaders hope to enlist international support for an Arafat burial at the Jerusalem mosque compound, an official said. Negotiations with Israel would only begin after Arafat’s death, he added.