Arafat: Top Palestinian officials fly to Paris
Palestinian leaders are to fly to Paris to consult with doctors about Yasser Arafat’s condition, a senior official said tonight.
Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath said that he would leave tomorrow for Paris with Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia or Mahmoud Abbas, Arafat’s deputy in the Palestine Liberation Organisation – or possibly both of them.
Qureia and Abbas have been coordinating efforts to prevent chaos and violence if Arafat dies.
Arafat was flown to a hospital outside Paris on October 29, suffering from an unknown ailment. Since then there have been conflicting reports about his condition – some saying that he was in a coma and near death, while others said he was improving under treatment.
Shaath denied reports that spoke of liver failure.
He added: “There is no basis of truth for reports that we want to move him from Paris to Cairo.”
