Arafat awaits virus verdict, aides say he's stable

8.20am

CLAMART, France - Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's condition stabilised on Sunday after tests ruled out life-threatening illness, and the focus turned to a possible viral infection or other ailment, Palestinian aides said.

"Doctors are happy because his situation is quite stable," Leila Shahid, the permanent Palestinian envoy to Paris, said, adding that he had received well-wishing statements from around the world, including from US Secretary of State Colin Powell.

Senior Palestinian officials met in Ramallah in his absence and pledged to ensure order, while Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon vowed to remain tough and said long-time foe Arafat would remain barred from the holy city of Jerusalem, even in death.

Arafat, 75, was about to spend his third night in a French army hospital after being urgently flown on Friday out of his shell-battered compound in the West Bank city of Ramallah with severe stomach pains and a low blood platelet count.

"The latest tests have found that President Arafat does not suffer from any life-threatening illness and what he has is curable," senior Arafat aide Nabil Abu Rdainah told Reuters.

Keen to show the Palestinian president in command, he said he had spoken to Arafat this morning about international events.

"The address of the Palestinian leadership is President Arafat and he remains the chairman of the PLO and the president of the Palestinian Authority, whose members are fully committed to his leadership," Abu Rdainah said.

Palestinian official Mohammad Rachid told reporters Arafat got out of bed on Sunday morning, joked with medics, read the Koran for the first time in 10 days and made some phone calls. He was taking food and no longer vomiting.

French doctors and authorities offered no comment, having insisted they would speak publicly once analyses were complete, something that could take until as late as Wednesday. Medical sources said nothing could be ruled in or out until then.

Palestinians have temporarily delegated his powers to two men -- Mahmoud Abbas, his number two in the Palestine Liberation Organisation, and Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurie.

Qurie and Abbas chaired a Sunday meeting of the Palestinian National Security Council, and there was a special two-hour session of the Palestinian legislative council.

An Arafat aide in France said doctors were now looking at the possibility of viral infection or poisoning and that test results could take until Wednesday.

The aide, who declined to be identified, was pressed on what he meant by poisoning and said only that nothing was to be ruled out, including possible harm from use of wrong medicine.

Shahid said she would report back to the media on Tuesday because there would be little news in terms of medical tests on Monday, a holiday in France.

Other good-wish messages came from Arab states in the Middle East and North Africa, China's Hu Jintao, Cuba's Fidel Castro, Russia's Vladimir Putin, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana and Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos.

Arafat was accompanied to the hospital by his wife Suha. He is due to be joined on Wednesday by his daughter Zahwa, aged 9.

In Jerusalem, Sharon told the cabinet Israel would not retreat from its tough military action against Palestinian militants and said he would reject any request to bury Arafat in Jerusalem, which Israel claims as its capital.

"As long as I am here -- and I have no intention of leaving soon -- Arafat will not be buried in Jerusalem," a government official quoted Sharon as saying.

The Palestinian president, effectively confined to his offices by Israeli forces for the past 2-1/2 years, agreed to fly to France only after Israel promised to allow him to return to the West Bank after treatment.

Washington under George W. Bush has tried to shut Arafat out of the picture in the Middle East.

Israel accuses Arafat of fomenting violence in an uprising that began in 2000 and plans to quit the Gaza Strip unilaterally next year, saying it has no Palestinian peace partner as long as he is in power. Arafat denies encouraging bloodshed.

- REUTERS