Seriously ailing Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat agreed yesterday to be rushed to a French hospital as fears grew for the icon of the struggle for a Palestinian state.

Aides said Palestinian, Tunisian, Jordanian and Egyptian physicians had advised that Mr Arafat, 75, had to be taken abroad, moving him from the West Bank compound where he has been penned by Israeli forces for over two and a half years. France had accepted a request for treatment, a presidential spokesman said.

Jordanian helicopters would carry Mr Arafat to Jordan early today and from there he would be brought to Paris aboard a French jet, Mr Arafat's aides said.

"President Arafat has agreed to go to France after doctors advised him to do so," said businessman Munib al-Masri, a businessman and confidant of the Palestinian leader.

A thin and weak-looking Mr Arafat, dressed in pyjamas, smiled and joked with medics in the first few seconds of film footage released since his condition worsened drastically on Wednesday. Laughing, he clasped the hands of those around him.

His wife Suha hurried to his bedside from Paris for the first time since they were separated by Palestinian-Israeli fighting that erupted after talks foundered in 2000.

Arafat was suffering from a low blood platelet count but did not appear to have the blood cancer leukaemia, one of the doctors treating him said. "His health condition is good. His morale is good," Jordanian doctor Ashraf al-Kurdi told reporters.

A low platelet count indicates a greater risk of bleeding, including serious internal bleeding.

The ex-guerilla, loved by most of his people and reviled by many Israelis, has had stomach pains since last week.

His health took a dramatic turn for the worse on Wednesday and officials said he had been slipping in and out of consciousness, though yesterday he had also been able to eat, talk and say prayers.

Mr Arafat's slide into illness has raised fears of chaos among Palestinians, whose four-year-old uprising for a state has stalled.

The death of a leader Israel and its US ally see as an obstacle to peace could also shuffle the cards in the Middle East conflict as the US heads into a presidential election next Tuesday.

Mr Arafat, short, stubble-bearded and usually seen in his trademark black-and-white Arab headdress, has named no successor in the decade since emerging from exile under interim peace accords.

Mr Arafat did not intend to appoint an acting president while he was abroad for treatment, his spokesman said.

Israel had said it could not guarantee Mr Arafat's return if he left Ramallah, but Mr Sharon shifted course after speaking by phone with Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurie late on Wednesday.

Raanan Gissin, a spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, said Israel would allow Mr Arafat to travel anywhere for medical treatment as a humanitarian gesture.

Should Mr Arafat die, speaker of parliament Rawhi Fattouh would replace him as Palestinian Authority president for a 60-day period during which elections would be held.

Mr Arafat's incapacitation or death could raise fresh questions about Sharon's unilateral plan for withdrawal from Gaza and parts of the West Bank in 2005, a move that has caused political turmoil in the Jewish state.

Mr Sharon has said that with Mr Arafat in power, Israel has no negotiating partner, forcing him to go it alone to "disengage" from conflict with the Palestinians.

Mr Gissin said it was premature to speculate on the fate of the pullout if Mr Arafat died, but if any new Palestinian leadership met "its obligation to fight terrorism" and institute reforms "we can reconsider our overall disengagement plan".

Israel accuses Mr Arafat of fomenting violence after peace talks collapsed four years ago, an allegation he denies.

At Mr Arafat's compound, his cousin, security chief Mussa Arafat, said the president "ate cornflakes this morning and was able to walk to the bathroom". Other officials said Mr Arafat had managed to say his morning Muslim prayers.

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