 Yasser Arafat was in a coma and in critical condition Thursday in an intensive care ward of a French military hospital, as senior Palestinian Authority officials rushed to Ramallah for emergency meetings of governing bodies formally headed by the stricken leader, Palestinian sources said. According to reports from Percy Military Hospital, Arafat is in critical condition, and his days are numbered. According to estimates, Arafat is suffering from either a growth in his intestines or stomach, or from blood poisoning. A source quoted on French television said that Arafat is breathing with the help of a respirator and is not responding to medical treatment that is being administered. The source, a doctor in the hospital, claims that Arafat has no chance of coming out of the coma. The doctor, who asked to remain anonymous, said that in the past three years Arafat's health has been neglected, which led to its deterioration. In a rare flurry of activity, the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Central Committee of the Fatah movement were urgently summoned to Arafat's Muqata headquarters in the West Bank city. Former Palestinian prime minister Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) also took part in the emergency meeting at the compound. |