Suha’s soap opera with the secret medical report

Yasser Arafat's half brother insisted Saturday the Palestinian people were entitled to know the cause of their leader's death, but Arafat's widow threatened a legal fight over the medical file in an ugly family tug-of-war.

Mohsen Arafat's comments came a day after widow Sufa took possession of the medical records and her lawyer hinted that a legal showdown could ensue if other relatives got copies.

"If the hospital made a copy -- I don't know if they did, they didn't tell me -- but in principle, it does not have the right to," her lawyer, Jean-Marie Burguburu, said.

Mohsen Arafat, a half brother of the deceased leader, told Al-Arabiya television from Abu Dhabi that "we are ready to hand over the records to the Palestinian Authority," explaining "it is the right of the Palestinian people" to know what killed their leader.

Yasser Arafat's nephew Nasser al-Kidwa, the Palestinian representative at the United Nations, was dispatched by the family to Paris to pick up a copy of the medical records. The Palestinian leadership promised to make the information public once al-Kidwa secured the file.

Al-Kidwa was in Cairo, Egypt, on Saturday visiting a sick family member. He told The Associated Press by telephone that he was sticking by his plans to come to Paris, but he did not know exactly when he would make the trip.

The 75-year-old Yasser Arafat, suffering from a mystery illness, was flown to Paris on October 29 for medical treatment at Percy Military Training Hospital, in the southwestern Paris suburb of Clamart. He died November. 11.

The lack of information about his medical condition and cause of death has proved fertile ground for widespread rumors in the Arab world that Arafat was poisoned, despite official denials.

Burguburu declined to give any details about the contents of the file the leader's widow holds but said she was considering whether to release the information to the public.

"The decision is in the process of being examined," he said. "The problem is, on the one hand, to try to stop all these false ideas about the death of President Arafat -- these rumors. Secondly, it's to make sure that there is not any abnormal exploitation of this medical file."

French law does not specify how closely related a family member must be to have access to medical information.

Officials in France insist the law prevents them from making Arafat's medical records public, but they can give them to family members, who can then reveal information if they wish.

Defense Ministry spokesman Jean-Francois Bureau reiterated that French officials have determined that al-Kidwa qualifies as a close enough relative to have access to the files.

"If he asks for the file we will give it to him," Bureau said. "He has as much right to the (records) as any family member."

Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qorei told the AP there was no doubt that Arafat's medical records would come to light.

"When we get this report, we will study it and hear the opinions of the doctors," Qorei said Friday. "And then we will inform the Palestinian people with all the details about the health situation of President Arafat and what led to his death."