PARIS, Nov. 9 (Xinhuanet) -- US President George W. Bush on Tuesday called his French counterpart Jacques Chirac to inquire about Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's health condition, Chirac's office said.

    "President Bush inquired about the president of Palestinian Authority's health condition," Chirac's spokesman Jerome Bonnafontsaid, adding that his phone call to Chirac lasted some 20 minutes.

    Earlier, the Dubai-based al-Arabiya TV quoted Palestinian sources as saying that Arafat was dead in the French military hospital. However, the authenticity of the report could not be independently verified.

    Later, the health service of the French Defense Ministry announced that Arafat was not dead on Tuesday at 3:30 pm (1430 GMT), saying that the official statement read by the spokesman of the Percy military hospital General Christian Estripeau was valid until that time.

    Number two in the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), Mahmoud Abbas, affirmed the condition of Arafat is "very serious,"after seeing him in a military hospital outside Paris.

    Palestinian representative in Paris Leila Shahid also denied the report that Arafat was dead. Enditem