Palestinian President Yasser Arafat is recovering from serious illness after a weekend of treatment and tests at a French military hospital but is still exhausted, a Palestinian official says.
Doctors treating the 75-year-old leader were waiting for test results before making a final diagnosis, said Leila Shahid, the permanent Palestinian envoy to Paris, on Monday.
"He is improving by the hour but he is very tired and exhausted," she told journalists.
"His fatigue is mainly from the diarrhoea and vomiting but it is very clear that there is no sign of anything serious. No blood cancer of any sort and no tumours were found," she said.
French medical sources were more cautious, saying nothing could be ruled out until doctors released the results of the tests, which would determine the length of Arafat's stay in the hospital southwest of Paris.
French doctors and authorities have said they will only talk publicly on his health when all tests and analyses are complete, which could take until the middle of the week.
Aides to Arafat had said results would be ready by Wednesday, but indicated on Monday a diagnosis might take longer.
Nabil Abu Rdainah, a senior aide to Arafat, said: "The final results won't be available until the end of Wednesday or Thursday and that's the case for the time being."
Arafat was rushed from his shell-battered compound in Ramallah to France on Friday with severe stomach pains and what doctors said could be leukaemia.
Aides have stressed that Arafat, who has for decades symbolised the conflict with Israel for a Palestinian state, remains in charge. Shahid described him as "mentally strong."
Arafat called a senior aide by telephone to condemn a suicide bombing that killed three people and the bomber in Tel Aviv on Monday.
The Marxist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine claimed responsibility for the blast, which also wounded more than 30 people.
"He (Arafat) condemned the attack in Tel Aviv and said that he condemns the killing of civilians on both sides," Abu Rdainah said in Paris after receiving the call.
Arafat appealed to all Palestinian factions to avoid killing Israeli civilians and called on Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to avoid killing Palestinians, he said.
A Reuters correspondent with Abu Rdainah heard Arafat speaking during the call.
Israel accuses Arafat of fomenting violence in an uprising that began in 2000, something Arafat denies. Washington under George W. Bush has tried to shut him out of the picture in the Middle East.
The Palestinian president, in effect confined to his offices by Israeli forces for the past 2-1/2 years, agreed to fly to France only after Israel promised to allow him to return to the West Bank after treatment.
Arab leaders including Jordan's King Abdullah and his wife Queen Rania called on Monday to ask about Arafat's health, said Abu Rdainah.
A small group of Palestinians lit candles on Sunday night and kept a vigil outside the hospital in the suburb of Clamart.
Arafat was accompanied to the hospital by his wife Suha. He was due to be joined on Wednesday by his daughter Zahwa, aged 9.
He has temporarily delegated his powers to two men - Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurie and Mahmoud Abbas, his number two in the Palestine Liberation Organisation.