Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat is still alive and his brain, heart and lungs still function, but he is "very ill" and the condition has deteriorated, Palestinian Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath told a press conference.

"Having recognized the critical situation that President Arafat is in today, his brain, his heart and his lungs still function and he is alive," he told reporters.

The official denies rumors of euthanasia for Arafat. "I want to rule out any question of euthanasia... People talk as if his life can be plugged in or plugged out. This is ridiculous. We Muslims do not allow euthanasia," he told reporters.

"He will live or die depending on his body's ability to resist and on the will of God," he added.

Arafat's doctors also ruled out positioning and cancer, he said.

Arafat, 75, had been suffering from a variety of digestive tract ailments since he had been confined to his Ramallah headquarters by the Israeli army. So he had "serious inflammations" of stomach and the intestines and his health is deteriorating, the foreign minister said.

Shaath also said that the speaker of the parliament, or the Palestinian National Council, will become "interim president," if Arafat dies.

Arafat was transferred to a French military hospital on the outskirts of Paris on Oct. 29.

Earlier, visiting former Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas said the condition of Arafat is "very serious," after seeing him in a military hospital outside Paris.

"His situation is serious. Sadly it is very serious," said Abbas, who is number two in the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO).

"We saw all the doctors," he said.

Abbas, Shaath, Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei and Parliament Speaker Rawhi Fattuh arrived late Monday in 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 French President Jacques 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 military hospital near Paris since Oct. 29 to diagnose his blood disorder.

Burial to be in Ramallah

A senior Palestinian official said Tuesday that if Arafat dies, all arrangements of funeral, burial, mourning and condolences would take place at al Muqataa, Arafat's headquarters in the West Bank town of Ramallah.

Tayeb Abdel Rahim, Arafat's office chief, said at a news conference that if Allah's (God) will and fate happens, in other words if Arafat dies, "all the arrangements would take place here at al Muqataa."

"Al Muqataa is a symbol of the Palestinian steadfastness and the siege has been imposed (by Israel) on President Arafat," said Abdel Rahim.

He said the Palestinian leaders in Ramallah were making contact with officials in France, adding that the Palestinian leadership would convene throughout Tuesday night in Ramallah to evaluate the situation.

He also called for patience and self-control among Palestinian people and called upon them to pray and fast for Arafat "at this critical situation".

However, Shaath refused to discuss the issue during his press conference in Paris. "To us it is indecent to discuss someone's burial when he is very much alive and we pray for his recovery," he said.

The Palestinian delegation is soon to leave Paris for Ramallah. "We are leaving immediately for Ramallah via Amman. We leave Paris with a heavy heart because our president is ill," said Shaath, adding that there was no plan to bring back Arafat to Ramallah as long as he remains under treatment.

(Xinhua News Agency November 10, 2004)