Arafat Dead, Say Palestinian Sources Amid Confusion

Reuters.com ^ | 11/09/2004 | Wata Amr

[GeneD]

PARIS (Reuters) - The fate of Yasser Arafat was mired in confusion on Tuesday as Palestinian officials insisted in public he was clinging to life even as aides said privately the veteran leader had died at a Paris hospital.

Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath, in a strenuous denial, said the Palestinian president, 75, was "very much alive," but at least five senior sources said he had succumbed to the mystery illness that led to his being flown to Paris on Oct. 29.

A top aide said Arafat, who lapsed into a coma last week, had suffered a brain hemorrhage. Palestinian sources said leaders were waiting for a senior Muslim cleric to arrive on Wednesday to give the go-ahead for disconnecting life-support machines.

"He is dead," one Palestinian source said. "He died after bleeding in the brain began last night. His bodyguards started hugging and kissing and telling each other to be strong."

Shaath described Arafat as "very ill," but said his brain, heart and lungs still functioned. A spokesman for French medical services said earlier: "Mr. Arafat is not dead."

[GeneD]

I KNOW, I know, but I have a hunch this may be close to definitive, as Reuters never met a freedom fighter it didn't like.

[Republican Red]

We mean it this time, he's really dead. Okay, maybe just a little dead.

[Blzbba]

Sounds like he died from complications arising from AIDS. How appropriate.

[Mikey_1962]

"BRING OUT YOUR DEAD"

"I'm NOT DEAD YET"

[dead]

[commish]

LIke Generallisimo Francisco Franco, YAssar Arafat is still dead.

[WayneM]

Man! That's three times in one day. THis may be a personal best for him.

[Red Badger]

Just what part of DEAD do they not understand?......

[Gefreiter]

"His bodyguards started hugging and kissing..."

Ummmm......yeeeeeahh....

[rightinthemiddle]

"Actually, I'm feeling much better."

"No, you're not."

[OXENinFLA]

Toss his lifeless body off the roof just so we can be sure.......

[presidio9]

I say we have a new rule that nobody is allowed to post another "Arafat Dead" story until he STAYS dead for 24 hours.

[Lunkhead_01]

Right-thinking people have wanted the terrorist known as Yassir Arafag dead or alive for years. Now it appears we have him dead and alive and we don't know what to make of the event.

[GeneD]

I humbly agree.

[JanetteS]

Is he REALLY REALLY dead this time? Or just really dead? Really.

[xJones]

Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath, in a strenuous denial, said the Palestinian president, 75, was "very much alive," but at least five senior sources said he had succumbed to the mystery illness that led to his being flown to Paris on Oct. 29.

This is very promising for whatever 'Godfather' they have in the future. The current aspiring successors can't tell a very much alive body from a dead one.

[NeoCaveman]

Is he dead yet? This is worse than waiting for Christmas.

[Billthedrill]

See, it's like Schrodinger said - they put him in a box and he's neither alive nor dead but in an eigenstate that subsumes both alive and dead. It isn't until you open the box that the waveform collapses and we have a determinate condition.

Or you strap the sumbitch onto a 500-lb bomb and drop him on Fallujah. Either way.

[Lunkhead_01]

Too bad Yassir Arafag doesn't have one of those suicide-homocide bomber belts around his waist. He could save the US and Israel a lot of trouble by detonating it and taking out the other terrorists around him and contaminating a lot of Froggies too.

[JanetteS]

Just what part of DEAD do they not understand?......

It depends on what your definition of "dead" is.