An armed policeman on duty stands outside Arafat's residence. Arafat is in a coma in a French hospital, and a senior official said some of his powers had been handed to his prime minister.-Xinhua/Reuters

Mahmoud Abbas, Secretary General of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) executive committee, said Saturday that Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's health is " stable and not worrying."
Abbas, better known as Abu Mazen who chaired a meeting of the PLO executive committee, told reporters that the committee would keep its meetings opened to follow up the health conditions of Arafat.
He said that the PLO would keep discussing and following up local, regional and international political questions.
Members of the committee said they hope that "President Arafat would defeat his illness and bet recovered as quickly as possible in order to return back to his leadership and his people until he achieves our national goals."
Meanwhile, Arafat's bureau chief of staff Tayeb Abdel Rahim read a statement to reporters after the PLO meeting, saying that the PLO executive committee called upon the Palestinian factions, powers and militant groups to develop the national dialogue and reinforce the national unity among them.
The statement condemned the "provocative Israeli statements issue by irresponsible Israeli officials," in reference to the Israeli officials' statements "that they would oppose burying Arafat if he dies in Jerusalem."
"Such statements are widening hatred between the Israelis and the Palestinians and is part of the policy of violence and collective punishment and daily killing," it added.
The statement also noted that the Palestinians congratulate re- elected President of the United States George W. Bush for another presidential term.
"We hope that re-electing President Bush would be a start of serious cooperation with the US administration to achieve President Bush's vision of establishing an independent and democratic Palestinian state," said the statement.