PARIS, Nov. 9 (Xinhuanet) -- Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat is in a "very difficult" situation, declared Mahmoud Abbas, number two of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), after talks with French President Jacques Chirac on Tuesday.

    "We are completely reassured over the explanations given by thedoctors," Abbas said, adding "President Arafat is in a very difficult situation and we hope a rapid recovery."

    Abbas is leading the Palestinian delegation including also Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei, Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath and Parliament Speaker Rawhi Fattuh, who arrived late Monday to Paris and were taken to Arafat's bedside on Tuesday afternoon in order to confirm in person their senior leader's health condition.

    They held talks on Tuesday afternoon with Chirac in the French presidential Elysee palace, in company of Nasser al-Qidwa, permanent representative of the Palestinian Authority to the United Nations and Yasser Arafat's nephew, and Palestinian representative in Paris, Leila Shahid.

    The delegation thanked Chirac for the care that France gives generously to Arafat and for France's stand for the Palestinian cause, Abbas said.

    Chirac made decision in person to receive in France the 75-year-old Palestinian leader who has been hospitalized in Percy militaryhospital near Paris since Oct. 29 to diagnose his blood disorder. Enditem