Mrs. Arafat complains; his aides cancel visit

By The Associated Press

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Tayeb Abdel Rahim, a senior Arafat aide, also said the critical comments by Suha Arafat "don't represent our people."

Rahim spoke after Mrs. Arafat lashed out at Arafat's lieutenants in an interview, accusing them of traveling to Paris with plans to bury her husband "alive."

Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia, former Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas and Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath had announced yesterday that they would travel to Paris to consult with Arafat's doctors.

But Mrs. Arafat, in a screaming telephone call from Arafat's hospital bedside, told Al Jazeera that her husband is "all right" and accused his top lieutenants of traveling to Paris with plans to "bury" him "alive."

"Let it be known to the honest Palestinian people that a bunch of those who want to inherit are coming to Paris," she shouted in Arabic, in her first public comments since Arafat fell ill.

Some Israeli media were reporting that Arafat's aides were going to France to decide whether to "pull the plug."

Qureia, Abbas and Shaath had hoped to receive an unfiltered assessment of Arafat's prognosis, aides said. Qureia and Abbas have divided Arafat's powers during his hospitalization, but Palestinian officials do not expect that to last indefinitely.

More than a week after Arafat was airlifted to a hospital near Paris, with stomach ailments and a blood disorder, his condition remains shrouded in rumors and false reports.

The Palestinian president, 75, has been variously described by aides and European officials as comatose, awake, brain dead, stable, racked by cancer, poisoned by opponents and, on several occasions, dead.

The hospital and French government officials have provided brief reports; France's foreign minister, Michel Barnier, said yesterday that Arafat's condition was "very complex, very serious and stable." As others, he said he was barred from providing any further information on the instructions of Mrs. Arafat.
 
Palestinian officials said they are increasingly concerned that the muddled reports could provide an opening for opponents of the Palestinian Authority to exploit a power vacuum. Arafat was flown to France from the West Bank city of Ramallah on Oct. 29 after doctors failed to identify the cause of persistent vomiting, diarrhea and spells of unconsciousness.

Material from the Chicago Tribune is included in this report.