PARIS, Nov. 4 (Xinhuanet) -- Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat was rushed to an intensive care unit on Wednesday, French RFI television reported Thursday.

    "He (Arafat) has been in intensive care since this morning (Wednesday)," the RFI quoted a Palestinian official who did not give his name as saying.

    But his transfer to intensive care "does not mean his life is in danger," another Palestinian official said, adding that "he is tired but his condition is stable."

    The RFI also quoted a source close to Arafat's delegation as saying on Thursday that the Palestinian leader had lost consciousness for three times over the past 24 hours.

    Arafat, symbol of the Palestinian cause for around four decades,was airlifted to Paris for treatment on Friday last week from his headquarters in Ramallah in the West Bank, where he had been confined by Israel for nearly three years.

    He is currently hospitalized in the Percy military hospital at Clamart, southwest of Paris.

    Senior Palestinian officials in Paris ruled out the possibility that Arafat had leukemia or cancer or was poisoned, but the cause of his ailment has not been identified yet.

    According to his economic adviser Mohamed Rashid, Arafat has since Monday talked on the telephone with King of Jordan Abdallah and received calls from President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt, Crown Prince Abdallah of Saudi Arabia and senior Palestinian figures Ahmed Qurei and Mahmud Abbas and he even closely followed the US presidential election.

    After President George W. Bush won reelection, Arafat expressedthe hope that Bush's new term and the confidence placed in him by the American people would give new momentum to the Middle East peace process, Rashid said.

    The Bush administration, by initiating the roadmap peace plan, called on Palestinians and Israelis to take immediate steps to improve security and cooperation and the plan envisions the establishment of an independent permanent Palestinian state by theend of 2005. Enditem