Thursday, November 4, 2004
Busy in my office, but I believe I just heard a reporter tell the President that Arafat is dead.
So now the world's oldest terrorist is also the world's deadest. Stay tuned for reaction.
Update: The Israeli newspaper sites seem to be getting hammered (Haaretz, Jerusalem Post, Ma'ariv), but sure enough, "He's dead, Abu":
JPost: FRENCH MEDIA: ARAFAT DIED IN PARIS HOSPITAL
Radio Monte-Carlo also reported on Thursday evening that Yasser Arafat is clinically dead.
Proche Orient reported that doctors decided to take Arafat off the artificial respirator on Thursday evening at about 5:30 p.m.
Channel two reported that the Israel Defense Forces received information Thursday from a "very reliable source" that Yasser Arafat died in hospital at about 5:30 p.m. Israel time.
At a press conference at Percy Military Hospital held at 6:30 p.m. officials said Arafat was not dead, but did not give his condition. The officials said Arafat was taken to intensive care so that "he could get the treatment required for his illness."
Senior Arafat aide Mohammed Rashid on Thursday eveing said Arafat is still alive, Channel 2 reported. PA Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei Mohammed Dahlan denied the reports, Al Arabiyeh reported.
The commanders of the Palestinian security forces have been summoned to an urgent meeting in Ramallah Thursday night following reports that Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat was in critical condition.
PA Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei is expected to head to the Gaza Strip on Friday for talks with representatives of all the Palestinian factions on the latest developments surrounding Arafat's illness...
There seems to be some confusion over whether he's actually dead or just in an irreversable coma and as good as dead.
