Arafat's brother dies

Fathi Arafat, the brother of the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and founder of the Palestinian Red Crescent Society, has died. He was 67.

Arafat died at 5.20pm yesterday at the Palestine Hospital in Cairo, where he had been receiving treatment for stomach cancer, said Mae Arif, spokeswoman for the Palestinian Red Crescent Society, a Muslim version of the Red Cross. Arafat, a doctor, was the hospital’s director.

In New York City, Arafat’s nephew, Nasser al-Kidwa, the Palestinian envoy to the United Nations, said: “He was not only an uncle but he was a friend, a personal friend I think.”

Arafat had been suffering from stomach cancer for about four years. Last month, a hospital official said the cancer had spread throughout his body.

Arafat quit his position as chairman of the Palestinian Red Crescent three years ago, but has served as honorary chairman.

He was also a senior member of Fatah, the Palestinian Liberation Organisation’s political movement. Arafat is survived by his wife, Nadia, and two grown children.

His funeral will be held on Friday at Cairo’s Armed Forces mosque and he will be buried in Egypt, according to his relatives.

Yasser Arafat, 75, died on November 11 in Paris and was buried at his headquarters in the West Bank town of Ramallah.