Palestinian President Yasser Arafat is recovering from serious illness after a weekend of treatment and tests at a French military hospital but is still exhausted, a Palestinian official said yesterday.

Despite the illness, Mr Arafat called an aide to condemn a suicide bombing in Tel Aviv and spoke to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurie, aides said.

Doctors treating the 75-year-old leader were waiting for test results before making a final diagnosis, said Leila Shahid, the permanent Palestinian envoy to Paris.

"He is improving by the hour but he is very tired and exhausted," she told Reuters.

"His fatigue is mainly from the diarrhoea and vomiting but it is very clear that there is no sign of anything serious. No blood cancer of any sort and no tumours were found," she said.

French medical sources were more cautious, saying nothing could be ruled out until doctors released the results of the tests, which would determine the length of Mr Arafat's stay in the hospital southwest of Paris.

French doctors and authorities have said they will talk publicly about his health only when all tests and analyses are complete, which could take until the middle of the week.

Mr Arafat's aides had said results would be ready by tomorrow but indicated yesterday a diagnosis might take longer.

Mr Arafat was rushed to France from his shell-battered compound in Ramallah on Friday with severe stomach pains and what doctors said could be leukaemia.

Aides have stressed that Arafat, who has for decades symbolised the conflict with Israel for a Palestinian state, remains in charge. Mr Shahid described him as "mentally strong".

Arafat called Abu Rdainah to condemn a suicide bombing by a Palestinian teenager that killed three people and the bomber at an open-air market in Tel Aviv on Monday and wounded 32 people.

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a small armed group in Arafat's Palestine Liberation Organisation, claimed responsibility for the blast.

"He (Arafat) condemned the attack in Tel Aviv and said that he condemns the killing of civilians on both sides," Abu Rdainah said in Paris after receiving the call.

Mr Arafat appealed to all Palestinian factions to avoid killing Israeli civilians and called on Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to avoid killing Palestinians, he said.

A Reuters correspondent with Abu Rdainah heard Mr Arafat speaking during the call. In separate telephone conversations, Mr Arafat also held a short political discussion with Mr Mubarak, gave instructions to Mr Qurie after being briefed on domestic issues and spoke to Yemen President Ali Abdullah Saleh, said Abu Rdainah.

Israel accuses Mr Arafat of fomenting violence in an uprising that began in 2000, something Mr Arafat denies. Washington under President George W. Bush has tried to shut him out of the Middle East picture.

The Palestinian president, in effect confined to his offices by Israeli forces for the past 2-1/2 years, agreed to fly to France only after Israel promised to allow him to return to the West Bank after treatment.

A group of pro-Israeli demonstrators waving flags staged a protest against Mr Arafat outside the military hospital in the suburb of Clamart where he is staying, witnesses said.

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