GAZA, Nov. 8 (UPI) -- A Palestinian official Monday denied reports Israel had recruited a Palestinian to poison Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat at his Ramallah office.
Jibril Rajoub, Arafat's aide for national security, denied a report by Egyptian Chief of Intelligence Omar Suleiman there could be a collaborator for Israel among Arafat's guards that stayed at his office.
Arafat is suffering from a severe blood illness requiring multiple transfusions and has been in a coma at the Percy Military Hospital in France for four days. A delegation of Palestinian authorities is en route to see him and to meet with French officials.
Rajoub also denied 15 Palestinians working at Arafat's headquarters -- some of them bodyguards, others cooks and cleaners -- had been under investigation.
He told UPI there were rumors spread in Palestine that Arafat had been poisoned and said those reports were designed to create confusion among the Palestinians.
