Arafat Death Reports Denied

The fate of Yasser Arafat was mired in confusion today as his foreign minister dismissed reports that the veteran Palestian leader had died at a Paris hospital.

Nabil Sha'ath said Mr Arafat was "very much alive" - though several political sources said earlier that he had succumbed to an illness that has yet to be diagnosed.

Mr Arafat, 75, has been in a coma at a French military hospital outside Paris for several days. Reports have suggested it may have been caused by anything from a brain haemorrhage to a blood disorder.

But Mr Arafat's vital organs are still functioning, Mr Sha'ath told a news conference, as he ruled out any suggestion of removing the Palestinian leader from life support. "I don't see any reason to make rumours precipitating his death," he added.

Mr Sha'ath's comments - which came at the Palestinian leadership's first official press conference since it was granted access to Mr Arafat following a spat with the ailing leader's wife - appeared to contradict earlier reports that officials were "counting the hours" to his death after talking to his doctors.

The Reuters news agency, quoting sources close to the leadership, said the Palestinian prime minister, Ahmed Qureia, and his colleagues had discussed Mr Arafat's health with doctors on a hospital visit and had been left with the impression that he had only hours to live.

To add to the sense of confusion surrounding his condition, doctors treating Mr Arafat made their first public statement for several days to say that he had worsened overnight. The deterioration was described as "significant", but the doctors did not say whether he would be able to recover from it.

Meanwhile, Palestinian leaders have decided to seek to have Mr Arafat buried at his West Bank headquarters in Ramallah, according to sources cited by the Associated Press.

The sandbagged compound, a target of frequent Israeli raids, is to be turned into a shrine and a mosque will be built there, Palestinian officials said. Mr Arafat was confined to the site, known in Arabic as the Muqata, for nearly three years.

Israel has ruled out a burial in Jerusalem or the city's West Bank suburb of Abu Dis. Asked about the Palestinians' decision, Asaf Shariv, a senior aide to the Israeli prime minister, Ariel Sharon, said: "The prime minister said 'not in Jerusalem and not in Abu Dis.' We haven't discussed Ramallah yet. We will discuss it and decide."