MORE SPECULATION ON ARAFAT'S CAUSE OF DEATH

...FROM THE WALL STREET JOURNAL:

'Shameful Disease'
The cause of Yasser Arafat's death remains a mystery, with more news outlets raising the AIDS theory. "Palestinian and French authorities have refused to disclose any information on Mr Arafat's ailments, serving only to encourage talk that he suffered from anything from stomach cancer to Aids," reports the Times of London. "Some Arafat supporters believe that he may even have been posioned [sic] by the Israelis."

The Jeddah, Saudi Arabia-based Arab News notes coyly that "Another rumour making the rounds in the region, especially in the West Bank, [Friday] was that Arafat had died of a 'shameful disease' that the French did not wish to reveal not to sully his memory. But PLO leaders have dismissed that as baseless."

From Israel Insider comes this speculation: "Israeli sources suggest that a quiet deal was made in which Israel would not reveal Arafat's HIV/AIDs illness--reportedly well-known in intelligence circles--in exchange for Palestinian officials scotching claims of poisoning." Consistent with this theory (although not proving it), both Nasser al-Kidwa, the Palestinian envoy to the U.N., and Philippe Douste-Blazy, France's health minister, said over the weekend that there's no evidence of poisoning.

Arafat is in stable condition after dying in a Paris hospital.