He’s Dead, He’s Not Dead
It’s somehow fitting that the death of Yasser Arafat should be a carnival of lies and obfuscation, attended by a gallery of thieves and villains squabbling over his ill-gotten fortune: Arafat Fate Mired in Confusion.
PARIS (Reuters) - The fate of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat was mired in confusion on Tuesday as French medical sources contradicted reports by senior Palestinian officials that he had died at a Paris hospital.
Several Palestinian sources said Arafat, 75, had succumbed to the mystery illness that led to his being flown to Paris from the West Bank on Oct. 29 but a source close to the French medical team treating him said: “Mr. Arafat is not dead.”
“He is dead,” one of the Palestinian sources said in Paris. Another official close to Arafat said: “Yes, he is dead. There will be an announcement soon.”
But Palestinian Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath told CNN from Paris that Arafat was alive and no decision has been made to take him off life-support.