PA envoy: Arafat fighting for his life, we're fighting the media

PARIS - The Palestinian Authority envoy in Paris, Leila Shaheed, lashed out Wednesday at what she called false reports by the Israeli government and some Israeli media outlets announcing the demise of PA Chairman Yasser Arafat, who is in a deep coma at a Paris hospital.

While Arafat was fighting for his life, she said, Palestinian officials were compelled to fight the Israeli media.

Speaking to Haaretz, Shaheed voiced her complaints against Channel 2, which she said "killed" Arafat last week when the television station announced his death without having received confirmation of the report.

When asked about Arafat's condition, Shaheed would only say she believes in God and in Arafat's ability to fight.

She blamed the Israeli government for saying that the reason top Muslim cleric Sheikh Taisser Bayoud Tamimi arrived in Paris was to permit disconnecting Arafat from life-support systems, speculation that had been published in Israeli as well as international media.

Shaheed said it was illogical that a cleric of Tamimi's status would support such a thing.

"It is clear, as for a Christian, as for a Jew, that a religious man needs to be with his patient when he is in the final phase of his life," Shaheed told France-Info radio earlier Wednesday. "That is why he is here." Tamimi said turning off life-support systems was "forbidden under Islamic law."

Explaining the vast number of recent rumors and reports about Arafat's condition, Shaheed said there are always people who want to show that they are insiders but said the only the PA's information was accurate.

The doctors treating Arafat are doing everything they can to help him, Shaheed said, adding that PA officials were trying to relay all the details provided by the physicians.

Saying Palestinian officials were aware of the possibility that Arafat could die shortly, she confirmed the PA was planning his funeral. PA officials announced Tuesday that Arafat would be buried in his Muqata headquarters in the West Bank, and on Wednesday accepted Egypt's offer to hold his funeral service in Cairo.

The Israeli government should not have encouraged Arafat's burial in the Gaza Strip, Shaheed said, and should have let the Palestinians decide where to bury their leader. She said the PA wanted to bury Arafat in Jerusalem, but could not do so because of the occupation. Palestinian officials chose Ramallah as Arafat's final resting place, Shaheed said, because it's the closest possible burial site to Jerusalem.