Well-informed Palestinian sources said Saturday that Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, who suffers from deterioration in his health, might be poisoned by putting poison into his food.

The sources told Xinhua that Israel is accused and responsible for trying to poison Arafat, adding that "Israel wanted to get rid of Arafat through a slow death."

The question that Arafat had been poisoned" is a first priority for his illness after doctors at Percy Military Hospital outside Paris in France failed to diagnose the illness that Arafat suffers from, said the sources.

Arafat's bureau chief of staff Tayeb Abdel Rahim told reporters in Ramallah that the possibilities that Arafat has been poisoned are one of the existing possibilities."

Palestinian reports said that the Palestinian security forces are holding intensive investigation to find out whether the poison had been put into his food, adding that Arafat had escaped 13 times of assassinations, three of them were to poison him.

The checkups that had been made to Arafat since he was transferred from Ramallah to France on Oct. 29 showed that he
doesn't suffer from any organic disease or Leukemia. But his health has been deteriorating.

Palestinian sources said that the French doctors took blood samples and sent it to Germany to diagnose the disease or the reason that makes Arafat ill.

Abdel Rahim announced on Saturday that Arafat is not "in coma," adding that "Arafat is completely conscious to what is going on around him, where he spoke with his doctors."