The Palestinian delegation, who arrived late Monday in Paris to visit Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in the Percy military hospital near Paris, announced Tuesday it is soon to leave Paris for Ramallah.

"We are leaving immediately for Ramallah via Amman. We leave Paris with a heavy heart because our president is ill," said Palestinian Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath, adding that there was no plan to bring back Arafat to Ramallah as long as he remains under treatment.

The delegation, led by acting Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) chief Mahmoud Abbas and including Prime Minister Ahmed Qorei, Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath and parliamentary speaker Rawhi Fattuh, has been taken to Arafat's bedside and spent two and a half hours there.

The Palestinian leaders also talked with French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier in the morning and French President Jacques Chirac in the afternoon before holding a news conference at 1800 pm (1700 GMT).

Barnier assured them of the "full support of France and Europe"at this difficult time for the region and "paid homage to the Palestinian officials for their activities in the Palestinian territories" and for their "unity and spirit of responsibility," aFrench Foreign Ministry spokesman said.

Barnier also expressed France's solidarity with the PalestinianAuthority and the Palestinian people in their difficulties, sayingFrance is more than ever committed to the resumption of negotiations under the "roadmap" peace plan, according to the spokesman Herve Ladsous.

After talks with Chirac in the French presidential Elysee palace in the afternoon, in company of Nasser al-Qidwa, permanent representative of the Palestinian Authority to the United Nations and Yasser Arafat's nephew, and Palestinian representative in Paris, Leila Shahid, Abbas said they are completely reassured overthe explanations given by the doctors and confirmed that Arafat isin a very difficult situation.

The delegation thanked Chirac for the care that France gives generously to Arafat and for France's stand for the Palestinian cause, Abbas said.

At the news conference later in the afternoon, Foreign MinisterNabil Shaath officially denied the rumors earlier in the day saying that Arafat was dead and said that the symbol of the Palestinian cause for 40 years is still alive but very ill.

"His brain, his heart and his lungs are still functioning and he is alive,"Shaath said.

"We don't have a full understanding of why his state has deteriorated, which means we don't have a full diagnosis," Shaath said.

He ruled out euthanasia for Arafat, saying "He will live or diedepending on his body's ability to resist and on the will of God."

He added that Arafat's long confinement in Ramallah by Israeli forces contributed to his deterioration.

Arafat, 75, is in a deep coma at the Percy military hospital where he was admitted on Oct. 29 to diagnose his blood disorder.

Source: Xinhua