PARIS, 10 November 2004 — Yasser Arafat is “in the hands of God”, with essential parts of the Palestinian leader’s power transferred to two of his aides, Palestinian Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath said in Paris last night.

Shaath said an interim government was in place and functioning.

He said Arafat has been unconscious and in coma for a whole week. His situation worsened last night when he fell into a deeper coma.

Shaath said Arafat was still technically alive because his brain, liver and heart continued to function on a life-support machine.

There was no question of subjecting the 75-year old leader to euthanasia, Shaath added.

The four-man Palestinian delegation that had flown to Paris to decide whether or not Arafat should be declared incapacitated appeared to have completed its mission and left for Ramallah after a lengthy meeting with French President Jacques Chirac. The leadership is expected to announce the new line-up of power within the next day or so, not waiting for an official announcement of Arafat’s death.

Shaath said the Palestinian leadership wanted to end rumors and speculation about Arafat’s health. Media reports have speculated that Arafat had either died or was brain dead.

“We don’t have a full understanding of why his state has deteriorated, which means we don’t have a full diagnosis,” Shaath said. He said Arafat’s long confinement at his headquarters in the West Bank contributed to his deterioration.

Here is the new line-up:

• The lion’s share of power goes to former Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas, also known as Abu Mazen. He has taken over as acting chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization and chairman of the Executive Committee of Fatah, the principal pro-Arafat military-political outfit.

• Prime Minister Ahmad Qorei takes over as chairman of the National Security Council that controls the Palestinian police and security forces. He also inherits Arafat’s financial authority. His signature will now replace that of Arafat for disbursing funds controlled by the Palestinian Authority.

• Rauhi Fattouh, speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council, takes over as interim president of the Palestinian Authority until elections are held in 60 days. With the essential part of Arafat’s real power transferred to Abbas and Qorei, Fattouh’s position will be largely symbolic.

Delaying the formal announcement of Arafat’s death or removal from power will give the new leadership time to establish itself before it faces the immense challenge of organizing elections.

The security situation could also be a good excuse for delaying elections if those in power do not find them convenient. One option is that a collective leadership might instead emerge, with Abbas as president in all but name, Qorei strengthening his powers in his current role as prime minister and other members of the Palestinian “old guard” in supporting roles.

But their hold on power is hardly likely to be fragile, at least for some time.

In an opinion poll in September, conducted by the respected Palestinian Center for Survey and Research, only three percent of Palestinians said they would vote for Qorei and only two percent for Abbas. They are both aging, colorless figures.

Arafat led the poll with a rating of 35 percent. Behind him was Mahmoud Zahar, the Hamas leader in Gaza, with 15 percent. Next was Marwan Barghouti with 13 percent.

No Hamas leader is about to stand for the Palestinian leadership and Marwan Barghouti is in prison in Israel.

And there are no other obvious candidates. Mohammad Dahlan, the former Gaza security chief, has a strong base there, but little support in the West Bank, and he is seen as too close to the Americans. Fatah, the movement founded by Arafat and still the biggest Palestinian political party, is so divided it might not survive his death in any meaningful form.

Then there is the position of Hamas to consider. It is now too powerful to ignore but not powerful enough to challenge for the leadership.

In a telephone interview last night, Dennis Ross, the former American peace mediator, said Arafat’s departure from the scene opened “new horizons for the Palestinians.”

Ross said he believed the new administration of President George W. Bush was committed to the two-states solution and would work with a new Palestinian leadership to achieve that. “The new situation will improve the atmosphere,” Ross said. “All parties will be looking for new possibilities and new opportunities.”

Tayeb Ibrahim, a member of the PLC, said in a telephone interview that Arafat would be buried in his Muqataa headquarters in Ramallah. “Nowhere else has so much symbolic importance,” he said.

He denied reports that Arafat may be transferred from Paris to Cairo or Tunis.

“He is on a life-support machine,” Ibrahim said. “The humane thing is to let him be until his time comes.”

Palestinian sources said the brief meeting in Paris between the visiting Palestinian leaders and Suha, Arafat’s wife, was “tense and chilly.” After a brief exchange at the hospital, Suha said she would allow only one of the four leaders to enter Arafat’s room, and then only for four minutes. It was Qorei who did the bedside visit, a provision necessary for deciding whether or not Arafat could be declared incapacitated.

“Despite Suha’s shenanigans, the leaders accomplished their mission which was to ascertain the exact state of Arafat’s health,” a senior source said. “Back in Ramallah they will be able to report to the institutional organs of the authority and put the constitutional mechanisms for succession in motion.”