PARIS, Nov. 6 (Xinhuanet) -- The French hospital treating ailing Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat said Friday that his health "has not deteriorated and is considered stable," while his spokeswoman in Paris denied he was brain dead.

    Early on Friday, Leila Shahid, Arafat's spokeswoman in Paris, also said he was "in a reversible coma."

    Meanwhile, official Palestinian sources Friday denied an Israeli report that the 75-year-old leader left a will naming Farouq al Qadoomi, chief of the Political Bureau in the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), as his successor.

    "Yasser Arafat's condition has not deteriorated and is considered stable since the last health update" given 24 hours earlier on Thursday, said Friday Christian Estripeau, spokesman for French Defense Forces' medical service outside the Percy military hospital in a southwest Paris suburb.

    The same spokesman announced Thursday that the Palestinian leader is still alive after some French and Israeli reports said Arafat was dead.

    French President Jacques Chirac said Friday morning in Brussels,where he attended a European Union (EU) summit, that Arafat is "under excellent medical treatment," but he refused to comment on Arafat's condition or the Middle East situation.

    Israeli daily newspaper Maariv Friday quoted Palestinian sources as saying that Arafat had given his wife Suha a written will naming al Qadoomi as his successor.

    The report was later branded as "totally untrue" by Palestinianofficials.

    Israeli media were seen by Palestine in efforts to cause confusion among the Palestinians by providing misinformation.

    UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Friday expressed hope for a smooth transition and progress toward the goal of a Palestinian statehood.

    "I think chairman Arafat embodied in his person the Palestinianaspirations for ... statehood," Annan said. "He's been leader of his people all these years, and obviously is going to leave a gap amongst the Palestinians."

    "But I hope -- and so far they seem to be handling it well -- that a succession will not be a problem," he said.

    The EU summit Friday expressed solidarity with the Palestinianpeople in this "difficult moment" and vowed to remain committed tothe Middle East roadmap peace plan.

    The EU "remains committed to the two-state solution as laid outin the roadmap" which would lead to "a viable, contiguous, sovereign and independent Palestinian state existing side by side in peace with Israel," said a statement.

    Meanwhile, Palestinian Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath announced Friday that Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei would head to Gaza on Saturday to meet with representatives of militant groups and factions.

    Earlier, Sami Abu Zuhri, a spokesman for the Islamic ResistanceMovement (Hamas), announced that Qurei's bureau in Ramallah had contacted him for an appointment on Saturday.

    "The meeting would focus on the latest developments after the deterioration of Arafat's health conditions," Abu Zhuri said, adding: "The situation is very serious and needs meetings and contacts to rescue it from deterioration." Enditem