Lara Marlowe witnessed yesterday's extraordinary "he's dead, he's not dead" events surrounding Yasser Arafat in Paris.
At Percy Army Teaching hospital, Clamart, south-west of Paris, Gen Christian Estripeau, the head doctor of the military hospital where Yasser Arafat has been treated for the past week, was categorical: "Monsieur Arafat n'est pas décédé." (Mr Arafat is not deceased.)
Hundreds of journalists from around the world had waited all day, corralled into two cold stretches of pavement outside the hospital under the watchful eye of CRS riot police. Dr Estripeau spoke at 6 p.m. After the brief statement, made at the request of Mr Arafat's wife, Suha, the press were told to leave. There would be no further announcements.
Mr Arafat was moved to intensive care late on Wednesday, Gen Estripeau said. The Palestinian leader had stayed up on Tuesday night to watch coverage of the US election, and sent a message of congratulations to President Bush on Wednesday.
It was not possible to confirm reports that he was in a deep "stage four" coma last night. If the reports are true, the decision to "unplug" life-support machines may be a question of political timing.
President Jacques Chirac visited Mr Arafat yesterday afternoon before leaving for the European summit in Brussels. Would the French leader have made the half-hour drive to Clamart to see a corpse? journalists on the death watch outside the hospital asked. Mr Nabil Abu Rudeina, Mr Arafat's top adviser, claimed the Palestinian leader smiled and held President Chirac's hand.
An hour and a half after Mr Chirac's black Renault with tinted windows sped out of the hospital grounds, Israeli television reported that Mr Arafat was dead. Journalists working for the Arab satellite networks financed by rich Gulf sheikhdoms - no longer friends of Mr Arafat - spread the rumour through the media herd outside the hospital.
The Israeli report apparently prompted Mr Jean-Claude Juncker, the Prime Minister of Luxembourg, to announce that Mr Arafat "passed away 15 minutes ago" - only to retract the statement, it was said, after a chat with President Chirac.
Mr Bush, asked to comment on Mr Arafat's "death" at his first press conference since re-election, said: "God bless his soul."
The confusion extended to Mr Arafat's immediate family. "We only know what's in the news reports; obviously we are very worried," his sister-in-law, Nadia, the wife of his brother, Fathi, told me on the telephone from Cairo.
Was it all a smoke screen?
"This happens every time an Arab head of state dies," a Moroccan colleague said. "They hide the truth while they try to sort out the succession."
The five-man delegation from the Occupied Territories ensconced at the Intercontinental Hotel includes Mr Mohamed Dahlan, the security chief from the Gaza Strip who is said to be favoured by the US and Israel. Mr Dahlan (43) was not on good terms with Mr Arafat, but came to Paris at his request.
Several sources speculated that arduous medical tests led to the sudden deterioration in Mr Arafat's condition. These included taking a bone marrow sample from the Palestinian leader's spine, and a colonoscopy which involves induced diarrhoea to clear the intestines, followed by the insertion of a tiny camera in the rectum. Leukaemia and stomach cancer have been ruled out, and Mr Arafat's entourage have spoken repeatedly of severe food poisoning. This could explain why he arrived in Paris suffering from diarrhoea and vomiting, and why the best doctors in France have been unable to identify his illness.
Mr Arafat was in poor health before he was medevacked from Ramallah last week. He used an oxygen respirator, and is believed to have been under treatment for Parkinson's disease. An Arab source said a skin pigmentation problem arising from an immune deficiency was aggravated by the fact that Mr Arafat did not see sunlight for 2½ years while imprisoned in his office. With Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon repeatedly threatening to have him assassinated, he could not open a window for fear of Israeli snipers.
"The Israelis say Arafat is dead politically, but what's annoying for them is that Arab and European leaders still regard him as the elected leader of the Palestinian people," said Slimane Zeghidour, an editorial writer for TV5. "If he dies physically, that solves their problem."