Arafat might – might – be in a coma:
“Arafat is in a coma and in a critical condition,” a senior Palestinian official told Reuters. He was transferred to the intensive care unit on Wednesday at around 5 p.m. (11 a.m. EST).
“He has no immunity whatsoever,” another aide said.
Rumors about Arafat’s health swirled on Thursday as some Middle East media denied he was in a coma while others saw him close to death.
Frankly I think the confusion stems from the fact that the media is used to taking the literal word of Palestinian aides for things. When that word agrees – such as on the “evil Israelis” – then it’s seldom questioned, even in cases of obvious invention (the Jenin “massacre” that wasn’t comes to mind). It’s simply unfathomable to Western media that people could be speaking speculation as fact, or freely inventing facts when they don’t have any.
I don’t know if we’ll ever know what’s wrong with Arafat, whether he recovers or not. Except there’s one thing we will know with clear-cut certainty: the Jews did it.
Update: Proving my point, now Arafat’s aides are denying the coma story. Geez, he’s in a friggin’ hospital! You’d think this would be easily verifiable… either he is or he isn’t. But the rumours are getting so abundant that it’s starting to seem like a deliberate PA strategy.