"I can assure you that he is not suffering from leukemia or any serious problem. His situation is curable, and we hope that hewill recover soon," Nabil Abu Rudeina said.

Arafat, 75, is now undergoing medical tests at Percy military hospital in Clamart, southwest of Paris, to determine the nature of a blood disorder declared by one of his doctors on Thursday.

Palestinian representative in Paris Leila Shahid denied Saturday that the Palestinian leader had leukemia, saying he is in"good spirits".

"For the moment, the doctors have excluded any trace of leukemia," LCI quoted Shahid as saying to reporters waiting outside the hospital late Saturday.

Rudeina also denied the news claiming that Arafat had leukemia and lost mental faculties.

"We deny what CNN reported about President Arafat," he told reporters, adding that tests were continuing and full results would not be known before Monday.

Arafat's aide Mohammed Rashid said it was unclear how long Arafat would remain in hospital, adding: "The situation will become clearer after the announcement of the test results expectedon Wednesday."