Palestinian Security on High Alert as Arafat fights for Life
Pakistan Times Monitoring Report

PARIS (France): Yasser Arafat remained in a coma in a Paris hospital Friday as the Palestinian and Israeli governments made preparations to prevent a descent into anarchy in the event of the veteran leader's death.

A spokeswoman for Arafat denied that the 75-year-old was brain dead but admitted he was comatose and "between life and death".

"He could wake up, but he could not wake up," Laila Shahid, one of handful of people authorised to visit Arafat, told French radio.

Matter of Touch n' Go

The coma was such that Arafat, who has personified the Palestinian fight for a homeland for nearly half a century, could stay in it "a long time" or "come out of it," she said.

Recap

French medical sources had said Thursday that Arafat was "brain dead" and only breathing with the help of life support machines at a military hospital in Clamart on the southwestern outskirts of Paris.

It marked a dramatic deterioration for Arafat who was airlifted a week ago out of his West Bank headquarters, where he had been kept under virtual house arrest by Israel for nearly three years.

While insisting that talk of Arafat's permanent demise was premature, Palestinian officials are trying to make sure that his death does not leave a power vacuum or trigger an outbreak of violence in a society where the number of gunmen has
mushroomed during the four-year uprising against Israel.

Palestinian Security on High Alert

All the branches of the Palestinian security services were placed on maximum alert late Thursday while senior representatives of all the main Palestinian factions were to meet in Gaza City.

Mohammed al-Hindi, the head of Islamic Jihad in Gaza, said the high committee of Palestinian and national Islamic factions, an umbrella organisation which includes the movement Hamas and Arafat's Fatah faction would meet at the local offices of the Palestinian parliament.

"We will discuss the dangerous situation, especially what will happen if the president were to die," Hindi said. "Inshallah (God willing), we hope he will recover."

Lid on Simmering Situation

Israeli authorities were also trying to keep the lid on the simmering situation, barring any Palestinian man under the age of 50 from entering the country from the occupied territories.

Its security forces operating in Gaza and the West Bank have also been placed on maximum security.

Overnight Vigil

Several hundred Palestinians staged an overnight vigil for Arafat outside his battered Muqataa headquarters in the West Bank town of Ramallah.

Starved of news from the official media, foreign journalists were badgered by Palestinians for information about the state of the man who is the only leader they have ever known.

Israelis were meanwhile trying to absorb the implications of the apparent end of the Arafat era. Some could barely contain their delight with Hatzofe, the mouthpiece of the Jewish settler movement, running the headline "Arafat Alive -- Until the Current is Shut Off".

Israeli ministers have been trying to avoid commenting on Arafat's condition amid the conflicting reports about his status. Neither do they want to be seen endorsing a potential successor.●