Yasser Arafat dies in Paris hospital

cctv.com 11-11-2004 13:05

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat has died in a French military hospital outside Paris. The Palestinian presidential secretary Tayeb Abdelrahim made the announcement in the West Bank headquarters of Ramallah.

The death of the 75-year-old Palestinian president ends days of rumors over his condition. He suffered a variety of digestive tract ailments since he had been confined, for two-and-a-half years to Ramallah by the Israeli army.

He was transferred to the French military hospital on October the 29th. Senior Palestinian sources said the leader's body is to be flown to Cairo on Friday for a state funeral, then to Ramallah for burial in Arafat's shell-shattered headquarters in Ramallah.

Editor:Liu Hongji  Source:CCTV.com