Leaders' Visit Adds to Arafat Confusion

The Palestinian leadership is to travel to Paris today to visit Yasser Arafat, who is gravely ill and possibly on life support, in a French military hospital.

Officials said the prime minister, Ahmed Qureia, the acting head of the main Palestinian political organisations, Mahmoud Abbas, and the foreign minister, Nabil Shaath, were to consult with doctors at the Percy military hospital, where Mr Arafat remains in intensive care amid conflicting reports about his health.

There was speculation in Palestinian political circles that the Palestinian leaders might be travelling to Paris to accompany Mr Arafat back to the occupied territories, either after his death or for him to die on the ground he fought over for decades.

News of the visit came as expectations mounted that President George Bush and Tony Blair would announce a major initiative to revive the Middle East peace process when they meet in Washington this week.

British government sources dismissed talk of a "Madrid-style" conference in London in January, along the lines of the conference which kickstarted the Oslo process after the 1991 Gulf war. But it is understood that the prime minister has secured Mr Bush's agreement to try to revive the Middle East road map.

Mr Blair is determined to achieve progress on the Middle East for two reasons: to prove to the "Arab street" that Britain and the US are dealing with its greatest grievance; and to prove to the Labour party that it is worth sticking close to Mr Bush. Critics say, however, that the president has offered warm words before which have proved to be meaningless when Ariel Sharon is effectively given a free rein by the White House.

Mr Shaath yesterday denied a report that the Palestinian leader had suffered liver failure. Doctors in Paris have been unable to identify what is ailing Mr Arafat but have ruled out leukaemia.

Palestinian officials have over recent days said Mr Arafat was in a coma, and that he was not; that he was on life support, and that he was not; that he held telephone conversations at the weekend, and that he remained unconscious.

Throughout the weekend, the hospital said there had been no change in his condition.

The French newspaper, Libération, reported that doctors have concluded that Mr Arafat is brain dead after an EEG scan on Thursday. The hospital has not carried out a second scan, legally required to confirm a patient is brain dead, because the Palestinian delegation has refused to allow it while political and funeral preparations are made.

The hospital's spokesman, Christian Estripeau, qualified all his public statements last week by saying they were being made in accordance with the wishes of Mr Arafat's wife, Suha, widely seen as an indication that the doctors are not revealing the whole story.

The French foreign minister, Michel Barnier, described Mr Arafat's condition as "very complex, very serious and stable". Asked about reports that Mr Arafat is brain dead, Mr Barnier replied: "I wouldn't say that."

Mr Qureia, Mr Abbas and other members of the Palestinian leadership yesterday agreed a plan to "restore law and order" in the occupied territories.

Israel welcomed the initiative as evidence that the emerging Palestinian leadership is prepared to combat "terror", a precondition by Mr Sharon's government for negotiations.