Palestinian leaders check on Arafat health

Senior Palestinian leaders including Ahmed Qureia and Mahmoud Abbas arrived in France tonight in a bid to check on the medical status of Yasser Arafat.

Qureia, the Palestinian prime minister, and Abbas, a former premier and deputy chairman of Arafat’s Palestine Liberation Organisation, travelled in a private jet from Amman, Jordan, to Le Bourget airport, north east of Paris.

They were accompanied by foreign minister Nabil Shaath and Parliament speaker Rauhi Fattouh.

The delegation is determined to clarify the exact nature of Arafat’s health problems. The critically ill 75-year-old Palestinian leader is in intensive care at the Percy Military Training Hospital outside Paris. His diagnosis has not been made public.

However, a hospital spokesman said today visiting rights were restricted given the delicate nature of Arafat’s health. He remains “stable” in intensive care, Christian Estripeau told reporters.

That raised the prospect of a dramatic showdown between the Palestinian delegation and Arafat’s wife, Suha, who earlier in the day angrily accused them of travelling to the French capital with the sole objective of ousting her husband from power.

The Palestinian leadership was outraged by her comments and initially postponed the trip only to later reverse the decision.

Suha Arafat has until now been controlling access to the ailing Arafat.

Her insistence that her husband was doing fine came a day after French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier called his condition “very complex, very serious and stable right now.”

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,” said Sufian Abu Zaida, a Palestinian Authority official.

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.

Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom, meeting Chinese officials in Beijing, said today that Israel hopes that Arafat, if he were to die, is succeeded by a “new and moderate” leadership willing to fight terrorism.

He said that while Arafat is alive “there is no glimmer of hope” Palestinians will carry out anti-terrorism steps.

Arafat’s death would open the potentially explosive issue of a burial site.

Palestinian officials have said Arafat wants to be buried in Jerusalem, but Israel has rejected that demand. In Jerusalem, Israeli officials said Sunday preparations were complete for Arafat to be buried in the Gaza Strip.