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Power Struggle Continues Over Arafat's Future

Amid reports that Yasser Arafat's senior deputies plan to visit the critically ill Palestinian terrorist in Paris his wife has publicly opposed the visit. ABC News reports that during a screaming telephone call from Arafat's hospital bedside, Suha Arafat told pan-Arab Al-Jazeera television that she was issuing "an appeal to the Palestinian people." She accused his top aides, who are traveling to Paris later Monday, of conspiring to usurp her husband's four-decade long role as Palestinian leader.

"Let it be known to the honest Palestinian people that a bunch of those who want to take over are coming to Paris tomorrow," she screamed in Arabic over the telephone.

"You have to realize the size of the conspiracy. I tell you they are trying to bury Abu Ammar alive," she said, using his nom de guerre. He is all right and he is going home. God is great."

Is there a vast conspiracy leading to Arafat's demise? Has he been poisoned? Why would his wife issue a statement contradicting all other reports? Perhaps her motivation is this: "She also is widely believed to have control of vast amounts of PLO money."

Update: Top Palestinian officials abruptly cancelled a trip to Paris on Monday to check on the condition of ailing President Yasser Arafat after critical comments by Arafat's wife, a spokesman said Monday.

Posted by tim at November 7, 2004 9:04 PM

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