Arafat Reportedly Takes a Bride, 28; Aides in Dark : Middle East: PLO officials are said to be embarrassed by the news. Purported wife is economic adviser to the chairman, 62.

Yasser Arafat, the Palestine Liberation Organization chairman and a confirmed bachelor for decades, has always proclaimed he was “married to the revolution.” Now his aides in Tunis are trying to figure out if he’s also married to his 28-year-old economic adviser.

Inquiring guerrilla minds want to know: Did Arafat, 62, shed his combat fatigues for a wedding coat to marry the young Palestinian woman who has been one of his closest aides-de-camp at PLO headquarters in Tunis? Or is this simply another one of the confounding stories that in PLO circles have an infuriating way of linking fiction and fact?

Three well-respected Arab newspapers and two international wire services, citing Arab diplomatic sources, reported Tuesday that Arafat had tied the knot several weeks ago in Tunis with Souha Tawil, a Sorbonne-educated economics counselor who has worked closely with the PLO chairman for the last two years.

The PLO is officially not commenting, and some of Arafat’s closest aides say they have not been filled in on the details.

“If it happened, nobody in Tunis knew about it,” one of the PLO chairman’s senior political advisers said in a telephone interview. “Obviously, everyone’s heard about it, but does anybody know the date? Or the place? I don’t.”

Another adviser said Arafat “is very private about his personal life.” He added: “This is something personal. He has dedicated his life for his work and for his people, and if he decided to get married, it’s his prerogative. You know, people change. You meet the right person at the right time, and you do it. It’s a personal decision; it has nothing to do with the Palestinian cause.”

Privately, PLO officials are said to be embarrassed that tales of the aging chairman’s marriage to a much younger woman are circulating while the PLO is seeking international credibility to join the peace process between Arabs and Israelis.

Worse, reports that Tawil’s mother flew to Tunis and insisted on a resolution of the matter after longstanding reports of a relationship between Arafat and her daughter have proved discomfiting, sources close to the PLO camp said.

Tawil, a native of Jerusalem, is the daughter of well-known Palestinian writer Raymonda Tawil, who formerly headed the Palestine Press Service.

In an interview with the French news agency, Agence France-Presse, Raymonda Tawil refused to comment on the reported nuptials but said: “Souha is free of her own choice. If she has chosen Yasser Arafat, that decision is up to her. Yasser Arafat is a symbol for the Palestinian people, and all Palestinian families would be honored at such a choice.”

Sources in Tunis said Tawil and Arafat had been close for some time. Tawil often flew back and forth to Paris at PLO expense and received a PLO house in Tunis at the chairman’s request.

Raymonda Tawil recently flew to the Tunisian capital and discussed the possibility of a marriage between her daughter and the PLO chairman, sources said. Arafat, they said, declared that he would make a poor husband, with his late hours and heavy travel.

What happened after that is not clear. Both Al Ahram and Al Akhbar, the semiofficial Egyptian newspapers, and Al Hayat, a well-regarded Arab daily published in London, reported that the marriage had taken place.

Some Palestinians close to the PLO in Tunis speculated that the news had been leaked early in an effort to pressure Arafat into the marriage. There was also speculation that the PLO chairman may have opted for what is known in the Arab world as an orfi marriage, a contractual arrangement sanctioned under Islam. It does not carry the legal and social standing of a normal marriage and may not even be disclosed by the parties.

So, did he or didn’t he?

“If you’re asking me to confirm it, I can’t, but obviously it’s been published all over the place,” an Arafat aide said. “I don’t see why anybody cares at this point.”