Arafat theories include AIDS, poisoning plot

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PARIS -- Right to the very end, some Palestinian officials believe Yasser Arafat was poisoned by Israeli security forces.

Outside physicians cite a number of rare blood orders that would account for the leader's rapid deterioration.Palestinian officials confirmed that Mr. Arafat died early today at the military hospital outside Paris.

But one of the most persistent theories is that Mr. Arafat was suffering from AIDS.

"The doctors until now could not diagnose precisely what is wrong with him, but it is believed there is a poison," Ali Kazak, who heads the Palestinian delegation to Australia, was quoted as saying in the Australian newspaper Herald Sun.

Such suspicions are grounded in Israel's bungled attempt to poison Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal in Jordan in 1997, only to provide Jordanian officials with the antidote.

Other conditions that have been mentioned as possible causes of Mr. Arafat's illness have included an absence of folic acid in the diet, as well as pernicious anemia, an autoimmune disorder. Yet another possibility, doctors have said, is an extremely rare blood disorder known as TTP, which stands for thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura.

Initial blood tests that were performed in the West Bank, before Mr. Arafat was airlifted last month to Paris for treatment, apparently revealed a low count of blood platelets, components that aid clotting.

"There's no way to guess" based on his low platelet count alone, because that can be symptom of almost any sickness, said Dr. Stephen Emerson, chief of hematology at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.

Among conditions that can have that effect, Dr. Emerson said, and that conceivably might have a role in Mr. Arafat's death could include "blood infections, severe vascular disease, and a syndrome known as DIC, which stands for disseminated intravascular coagulation." The latter, he said, is a condition in which there is "simultaneous bleeding and clotting."

Former White House speechwriter David Frum wrote in the National Review that Mr. Arafat probably had AIDS.