Palestinians ready to confront Arafat's wife

Palestinian leaders flew to France tonight to confront Yasser Arafat’s wife who accused his top lieutenants of seeking to grab control from her ailing husband.

It was the first sign of an open power struggle breaking around the broken body of the 75-year-old Palestinian leader who lies in a coma in a military hospital on the outskirts of Paris. His condition was said to be stable today.

At first Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia, former premier Mahmoud Abbas and Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath cancelled their trip after hearing Mrs Arafat’s outburst.

But then they left the West Bank for Jordan, to get a flight to Paris to visit Arafat, consult with his doctors and hold talks with President Jacques Chirac.

In a screaming telephone call from Arafat’s hospital bedside, Suha Arafat told Al-Jazeera television that Arafat’s aides were conspiring to usurp her husband’s four-decade-long role as Palestinian leader.

Palestinians have been making contingency plans in the event of Arafat’s death.

Qureia and Abbas have been working together to run Palestinian affairs in Arafat’s absence and to prevent chaos and violence if the Palestinian leader dies.

Qureia has taken on some of Arafat’s executive and security powers, while Abbas has been chairing meetings of the PLO’s executive body.

Jamil Tarifi, the Palestinian minister of civil affairs, told Al-Jazeera the group initially was hesitant about going, but the executive committee decided the trip would help “reassure” worried Palestinians.

Some Palestinians have complained Suha Arafat has gained too much power. She controls the flow of information about Arafat’s condition and has taken charge of access to her husband.

“It’s an absurd situation that Suha is sitting there and deciding when, how and who,” Sufian Abu Zaida, a Palestinian Authority official, said.

Born a Christian, Mrs Arafat, 41, lives in Paris and has not been to the West Bank or had not seen her husband since the latest round of Palestinian violence began in 2000. She is widely believed to have control of vast funds collected by the PLO.

She has largely stayed out of Palestinian politics, although she has occasionally made comments that caused her problems.

She has expressed sympathy for militant Palestinian groups, and during a 1999 meeting with then-US first lady Hillary Clinton she accused Israel of using poison gas against the Palestinians.

Palestinian leaders are working to avoid chaos or violence in the event of the death of Arafat, who has been ailing for nearly a month.

Doctors have described his condition in recent days as critical but stable and have yet to release a diagnosis.