RAMALLAH, Oct. 29 (Xinhuanet) -- Ailing Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat will be airlifted to Paris for treatment early Friday, while Arafat's Fatah movement and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) met late Thursday over the veteran leader's deteriorating health.

    According to one of Arafat's medical consultants, the departurewas scheduled at 6:30 a.m. (0430 GMT).

    Ashraf Kurdi said the medical team sat with Arafat, exchanged several words and even joked with him and that his spirits were ashigh as usual.

    "As the medical examinations are not available in Ramallah, themedical teams decided that Arafat has to travel abroad to have medical examinations and treatments," Kurdi said late Thursday.

    Two Jordanian helicopters will airlift Arafat from the West Bank city to the Jordanian capital Amman, where he will take a French plane to Paris for treatment, Jordan's official Petra News Agency reported.

    Arafat's wife, Suha Arafat, and former Palestinian Minister of Interior Security Mohammed Dahlan will accompany him to France, Palestinian officials told Xinhua.

    Arafat, 75, has been sick over the past two weeks, suffering from what Palestinian officials said a stomach flu.

    He underwent a minor diagnostic procedure on Monday after complaining of stomach pains.

    Arafat's senior advisor Nabil Abu Rudeina said the veteran leader was now in stable conditions but doctors had advised him toreceive follow-up checks abroad.

    Yasser Abed Rabu, a member of the PLO executive committee, saidthe PLO had received international guarantees that Arafat will be able to return to the Palestinian territories after treatment in France.

    "These guarantees encouraged us to take our decision that Chairman Arafat will travel early Friday to France," he said aftera meeting of the PLO and the Fatah movement.

    Abed Rabu said that after the medical treatment, the Palestinian leader will return to his headquarters in the West bank city of Ramallah.

    "I believe that the US administration will respect its obligations, as well as the international sides that contacted theIsraeli side who guarantees that Arafat will be allowed to return," the official said.

    Israel has guaranteed that it will not bar Arafat from returning to the West Bank if he needs to go abroad for medical treatment.

    "For us, it is a purely medical and humanitarian issue," Israeli government spokesman Raanan Gissin said.

    There would be no acting leader during Arafat's absence since the prime minister, the Palestinian Legislative Council and the PLO were all there to address the daily work, said Palestinian officials.

    "We will do the obliged requirements while Arafat is absent as there won't be any political vacuum and we will stay in a continuous consultation with him during this period," said PLO executive committee member Yasser Abed Rabu.

    The decision to transfer Arafat to Paris for treatment of a potentially fatal blood disorder was of Arafat's consent, it is said.

    Palestinian sources quoted his doctors as saying late Thursday that the Palestinian leader suffered from low count of white bloodcells.

    The sources said the leukopenia could have been triggered by aninflammation caused by virus or blood poisoning.

    Arafat's wife, Suha, who lives in Paris, flew to his bedside earlier Thursday. It was the first time for Suha to return to the West Bank since Arafat was confined to his Ramallah headquarters by Israel since December 2001.

    On Wednesday night, Israeli media quoted sources as saying thatArafat was very sick. Some reports said Arafat collapsed earlier and had lost consciousness for several hours.

    Israeli officials speculated that he might have stomach cancer,but two of Arafat's doctors said Wednesday that a blood test and an endoscopy found no serious ailment.

    As the news circulated, hundreds of Palestinians and journalists gathered outside his headquarters, waiting for information about him.

    Thousands of people gathered in towns and cities in the West Bank and Gaza Strip Thursday to show solidarity with Arafat, who is adored as the hero of the Palestinian national struggle. Enditem