Weekend at Bernie’s? No, weekend at Yasser’s



Gen. Christian Estripeau, a doctor from the military hospital Percy in Clamart, France stated yesterday that Arafat’s condition “ne s’est pas aggravé” (hasn’t worsened) and Arafat’s state “is considered stable since the previous health bulletin.” in an equally terse statement Thursday, the hospital spokesman denied rumors that Arafat was dead.” (By law, French physicians are not allowed to disclose patient information.) Jack, who’s in Paris right now, reports that the French press is asserting that Arafat is brain dead. Meantime, Leïla Chahid, general delegate for Palestine in France categorically denies that Arafat’s not in an irreversible coma, but said he lies “between life and death,” while insisting he was “absolutely not” brain dead. There’s even a rumor circulating in Israel Saturday that says Mr. Arafat opened his eyes and is “communicating with his doctors.” Be that as it may, the NY Post today reports,

As Yasser Arafat lay dying yesterday in a French military hospital, his wife and a top financial adviser battled at his bedside over the estimated $1 billion he has stashed away in secret bank accounts.

. . .

The Sunday Times of London reported last week that in the early 1980s, when the Palestinians raked in a fortune from drug trafficking in Lebanon, Arafat’s secret coffers swelled to $5 billion.

The Times estimates the original $5 billion stash has dwindled to $1 billion.

The London Times even has a timeline on the status reports. As you can read from the timeline, Yasser, unlike Bernie, hasn’t yet been sighted at the Hamptons.

Unfortunately for us, DeForest Kelley is dead, so Dr. McCoy won’t be able to transport to Paris and say his famous line, “Jim, he’s dead!”, but one can almost hear him declare “I’m a doctor Jim, not a politican.”