 Palestinian leaders have begun preparations to bury Yasser Arafat, being sustained Friday on life-support in a French hospital. Although Jordan and Egypt reportedly offered to let Arafat, 75, be buried in their countries, plans are being made to bury him in Gaza, where his sister is buried, the Jerusalem Post reported. Ahmed Qureia, Palestinian Authority prime minister, and Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath are expected to attend an urgent meeting in Ramallah Saturday of Palestinian Authority leaders. Hamas and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine will send representatives to the meeting. | Sigh, talk about your target rich enviroment. |
Speculation about Arafat's condition, specific ailment and cause of that ailment was rampant. "I can assure you that there is no brain death," Leila Shahid, the Palestinian envoy to France, said. "He is in a coma. We don't know the type but it's a reversible coma." Shahid suggested the coma occurred after he was put under anesthesia to have additional medical tests, including an endoscopy, colonoscopy and a biopsy of the spinal cord. "Smithers, send a thank you note and the usual check to the anesthesia technician. Then have him killed."
"Yes sir, at once" |
"The doctors don't have a diagnosis," she said. "He could or could not wake up," she said, adding, "All vital organs are functioning."
Palestinian leaders, struggling to deal with a post-Yasser Arafat world, have patched together a two-office arrangement for running the territories. With Arafat, 75, in a coma and on life-support in a French hospital, Ahmed Qureia and Mahmoud Abbas have emerged as transition leaders of the Palestinians while Arafat's future remains uncertain, the Washington Post reported Friday. Under terms of a somewhat ad hoc arrangement, Qureia will run daily operations for the Palestinian Authority, the self-governing entity in the West Bank and Gaza Strip established 10 years ago by the Oslo peace accords. He will also head the National Security Council. Arafat is president of the authority and chairman of the council. Abbas, meanwhile, will run both the Palestine Liberation Organization, the umbrella group that represents Palestinians living in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and abroad, and of the Fatah political movement, the most powerful Palestinian political organization. Arafat is chairman of both. | Civil war scheduled right after the funeral |
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