Arafat's political heirs, wife on collision course

JERUSALEM — In a drama that had some elements of a Greek tragedy and some of a French farce, a confrontation was brewing Monday night over the comatose figure of Yasser Arafat between his distraught wife, Suha, and his likely political heirs.

Suha Arafat, sophisticated, stylish and 34 years younger than her revolutionary icon husband, has used French privacy laws to keep the state of her husband's health a mystery to the world — and even to the Palestinians who were closest to him, not to speak of those ordinary people who claim him as the father of their nation.

Some senior French officials, who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation, have said they are fed up with her maneuvering. So are the Palestinian leaders trying to keep their people calm and establish a legitimate line of succession to Yasser Arafat, 75, who kept all positions of real power to himself.

Exasperated and worried, senior Palestinian leaders arrived in Paris on Monday night to find out for themselves the state of Arafat's health. But as they scheduled meetings for today with the French president, Jacques Chirac, and the foreign minister, Michel Barnier, it remained unclear whether they would be allowed to visit Arafat's bedside.

The Palestinians abruptly canceled and then rescheduled the trip on Monday after Suha Arafat accused them, in what she called "an appeal to the Palestinian people" from Yasser Arafat's bedside, of trying to bury her husband alive and take over his powers.

"You have to realize the size of the conspiracy," she told al-Jazeera television in a telephone call that she initiated. "I tell you that a number of contenders to the throne are coming to Paris, and they are trying to bury Abu Ammar alive," she said, using Arafat's nom de guerre. "He is all right, and he is going home. God is great."

French officials, themselves impatient with the mystery surrounding the lingering death of Arafat, had urged the Palestinian leaders to come to try to break his wife's hold. They also urged the Palestinians to reschedule the trip to Paris after they had canceled it in anger over Suha Arafat's remarks, Palestinian officials said.

Under French law, she has the right to control information about her husband and decisions about his treatment and perhaps his eventual death, French officials said.

Doctors at the Percy military hospital outside Paris have told the Elysee Palace that "the coma is technically reversible although it is unlikely," one French official said, but that Yasser Arafat could linger for some time.