Official Palestinian sources Friday denied an Israeli report that ailing
Yasser Arafat left a will saying that Farouq al Qadoomi, chief of the Political
Bureau in the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), is to be his successor.
Israeli newspaper Daily of Maariv reported earlier that according to
Palestinian sources, Arafat gave his wife Suha a written will saying that al
Qadoomi will be his successor in leading the PLO and the Palestinian National
Authority (PNA).
The daily also claimed that Arafat's nephew Nasser al Qedwa, the Palestinian
representative at the United Nations, also know about the written will that
Arafat handed to Suha.
The Palestinian sources that spoke in conditions of anonymity said that "the
daily report are totally untrue."
The Israeli media "has been trying to publish false reports " that aim at
causing confusion among the Palestinians," stressed the sources.
According to the Israeli daily, a Palestinian official said that when Arafat
was awake at Percy Hospital in France, he called al Qadoomi to come to the
hospital to inform him about the important issue.
If the will is true and al Qadoomi accepts the position, he would chair the
PLO and would rule the PNA together with the Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei, said
the paper.