Acting Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) leader Mahmud Abbas,
Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei and Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath will
defer their visit to their ailing leader Yassar Arafat in France, French RFI
television reported Monday.
The cancellation came after Arafat's wife Suha Arafat comments in an
interview with the Doha-based Al Jazeera television. Suha said "Abu Ammar
(Arafat) is doing well and will return home," but "Abbas, Qurei and Shaath, who
are trying to inherit his power, want to bury Arafat alive."
She also made an appeal to the Palestinian people. "A handful of (people)
seeking to inherit power are coming to Paris to try and bury Abu Ammar alive. I
ask you to look at the extent of the plot," she said.
Suha is one of only a handful of people who have been authorized to see the
75-year-old Palestinian leader in the last 10 days.
Abbas, alias Abu Mazen, Qurei, and Shaath were due in Paris Monday, French
Foreign Minister Michel Barnier announced Sunday inParis.
Qurei and Abbas were making the trip as they were frustrated atthe lack of
information on the state of Arafat's health, RFI reported.
Arafat was admitted in Percy hospital in southwestern Paris suburb of Clamart
on Oct. 29 to diagnose his reported "blood disorder."
