An armed policeman on duty stands outside Arafat's residence. Mahmoud Abbas, Secretary General of¡¡the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) executive committee, said Saturday that Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's health is "stable and not worrying." (Xinhua/Reuters Photo)

PARIS/RAMALLAH, Nov. 7 (Xinhuanet) -- Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat is not in a coma and his condition is stable, Arafat's senior aid Nabil Abu Rudeineh said early Sunday.

    "He's in a stable condition. He's sleeping right now. We hope that in the coming few days we will be able to know exactly what he is suffering from," Rudeineh told reporters outside the Percy military hospital in a Paris suburb where Arafat is being treated.

    A French military medical service spokesman confirmed Saturday afternoon that Arafat's condition has not changed one way or the other since the last health update released Friday.

    "There is no evolution one way or the other compared with the health update on Friday," French RFI television quoted General Christian Estripeau, the spokesman for France's military medical service, as saying.

    "Yasser Arafat's condition has not deteriorated (over the last 24 hours) and is considered stable," said Estripeau late Friday.

    Palestinian officials said Friday evening that the medical teamtreating Arafat would be the only body authorized to comment on Arafat's condition.

    The team's first official medical report on Tuesday ruled out leukemia or cancer but was unable to specify the cause of Arafat's"blood disorder."

    POSSIBILITY OF ARAFAT BEING POISONED

    Well-informed Palestinian sources have accused Israel of tryingto get rid of Arafat through a slow death by putting poison into his food, as the health of the 75-year-old leader has been deteriorating without suffering from any organic disease or Leukemia.

    The question of Arafat being poisoned has become a real issue after doctors at Percy failed to diagnose the cause of Arafat's illness, the sources told Xinhua on Saturday.

    Arafat's bureau chief of staff Tayeb Abdel Rahim told reportersin Ramallah that Arafat has been poisoned is "one of the existing possibilities."

    According to Palestinian reports, Arafat had survived 13 assassination attempts, three of them were to poison him.

    The reports said that the Palestinian security forces are holding intensive investigation to find out whether poison had been put into his food.

    QUREI CALLS FOR DIALOGUE, UNITY

    As an effort to avoid chaos and anarchy in the Palestinian territories and not to leave any political vacuum, Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei met with representatives of 13 national and Islamic factions in Gaza on Saturday to discuss the security situation in the wake of Arafat's illness.

    "We agreed that the use of arms in solving our disputes is forbidden," Qurei said at a news conference following the meeting.

    "The only way to solve our problems is to go through dialogue that unifies our positions," he said.

    A security plan presented by the chief of Palestinian security apparatus was accepted by all parties, including Hamas and IslamicJihad (Holy War), a senior Palestinian official told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

    Khader Habib, a senior Jihad leader who attended the meeting, said the meeting had reiterated the importance of national unity so as to prevent an inner unrest in view of Arafat's sharply deteriorating health.

    Meanwhile, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) executive committee held a meeting on Saturday, calling upon the Palestinian factions, powers and militant groups for dialogue and national unity.

    PALESTINIANS FEAR FUTURE WITHOUT ARAFAT

    While praying for Arafat's recovery, Palestinians are also worrying about their future without the veteran leader.

    "I don't see an alternative to the president," Jawad Zeydat, a banana seller, said near the Lion Square in downtown Ramallah. "I think he will be treated in France and return home, God willing."

    "Whatever his faults, we will not find someone like him. His name is connected to Palestine. We will not find someone to love like him. He is our national hero," Zeydat added.

    Yehed Sarsor, 40, shared the trepidation. "We will have confusion here if anything happens to Arafat. It's not a joke."

    Sarsor said if there is a power vacuum, "there will be an absence of law and order internally, and I'm afraid it will give the Israelis another pretext to attack and invade."

    There are also people who are less gloomy. Asem Mitwalli, 20, an accounting student, said: "We will find people able to continueour march. It won't be the end of the Palestinian cause."

    However, his friend Firuz al-Naji, 19, said he has had fears that there will be some kind of power struggle or conflict among Arafat's possible successors, adding that no one has the same legitimacy as Arafat.

    Despite Palestinian people's deep concern over the heath of their hero and symbol of Palestinian liberation, Ramallah, as wellas Gaza and other parts of the Palestine-controlled areas, remained calm in the days of Arafat's absence.

    Palestinian officials said the fears of chaos are exaggerated as there is an institutional structure of Palestinian politics to keep the situation going on normally. Enditem