By Jerusalem Newswire Editorial Staff
Oct 30, 2004
His pledge to march on Jerusalem with “one million martyrs” and lead the Palestinian Arabs to sovereignty over ancient Jewish lands unfulfilled, Yasser Arafat is likely to spend the rest of his days as an incoherent cancer patient.
CNN reported Saturday that French doctors had given a preliminary diagnosis of leukemia, a finding backed by Arafat’s own doctors in Ramallah and Israeli officials.
PA officials refuted the reports, insisting that initial tests at Paris’s Hopital d'Instruction des Armees de Percy – a medical facility specializing in blood disorders – had “excluded for the time being any possibility of leukemia.”
When news of Arafat’s deteriorating health first broke last week, the PA claimed he was merely suffering from the flu.
The results of Arafat’s bone marrow tests were expected Saturday evening.
Meanwhile, sources close to the ailing terror chief said he was not in control of his mental faculties, and suggested to CNN that the “era of Arafat is over”.
“Arafat is not mentally in control, and he is unable to make important decisions,” the sources said.
As Arafat was taken from his Muqata compound in Ramallah Friday, unnamed “Palestinians” confirmed his incapacitation, reporting that he had been unable to recognize his own top officials.
A video of the PLO boss as he boarded a Jordanian helicopter aired on Israel’s local news channels Friday evening. In it, Arafat appears rambling and demented, and his attempt to randomly kiss the hand of a man helping to support him is met with horror.
Israeli officials believe Arafat has suffered a permanently debilitating stroke.
In his absence, current “Palestinian” Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia has assumed overall control of the PA and its “security forces”, while former-prime minister Mahmoud Abbas was named head of the PLO and Fatah terrorist organizations.
On Saturday, the PLO for the first time in 40 years held a meeting without Arafat.