Yasser Arafat, critically ill in a Paris hospital, has suffered liver failure, a Palestinian official said yesterday as Mr Arafat's subordinates decided in his absence to enforce a law and order plan in Palestinian areas.

Mr Arafat's deputy, Mahmoud Abbas, and Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurie will go to France today to visit the president in hospital, Palestinian officials said.

Mr Abbas and Mr Qurie, overseeing Palestinian affairs in the West Bank and Gaza since Mr Arafat was flown to a hospital near Paris on October 29, decided to go to France so they could be "personally reassured" about his condition, one of the officials said.

With no indication who will succeed the 75-year-old Arafat, who has dominated Palestinian affairs for more than three decades, some aides said he might be moved to Egypt, from where he could be flown home more quickly if he died.

"He has liver failure. His condition is not improving," said a Palestinian official in the West Bank who declined to be named. "One option being considered is moving him to Cairo."

The official said any decision to move Mr Arafat could be taken only by the Palestinian leadership. He added that a low count of platelets, which help the blood clot, meant blood transfusions were proving difficult.

Addressing the delicate issue of where Mr Arafat should be buried if he dies, Israel said it had completed preparations for the Palestinian president's eventual burial in the Gaza Strip. But Mr Arafat has said he wants to be laid to rest in Jerusalem.

Doctors treating Mr Arafat have ruled out leukaemia but remain puzzled why his health deteriorated sharply last week at the Paris military hospital where he has been having tests since he was flown from the West Bank on October 29.

One Palestinian official said in Paris: "The organs in the lower part of Arafat's body have not been functioning well. However, his heart and brain are working still."

In Ramallah, site of Mr Arafat's headquarters, his fellow leaders decided to carry out a plan to restore law and order in the West Bank and Gaza, a government minister said. It was the first major decision they have announced since Mr Arafat left.

Officials said the plan was drafted in March and is more concerned with ending local lawlessness than reining in militants waging a four-year-old uprising - a long-standing Israeli and international demand.