Senior Palestinian officials confirmed tonight that Mr Yasser Arafat has suffered a brain haemorrhage and is in a critical condition at a Paris hospital.
French doctors contradicted earlier reports that the veteran leader had died, saying: "Mr Arafat is not dead."
Earlier several political sources said Mr Arafat (75), in a coma for the past six days, had succumbed to the mystery illness that led to his being flown to Paris from the West Bank on October 29th, thrusting his Palestinian Authority into crisis.
"He is dead. It is possible they will delay the announcement," one Palestinian source said. "He died after bleeding in the brain began last night. His bodyguards started hugging and kissing and telling each other to be strong."
But Palestinian Foreign Minister Mr Nabil Shaath told CNN from Paris that Mr Arafat was alive and no decision has been made to take him off life-support.
The flurry of conflicting reports surfaced during a visit to Paris by a delegation of three senior Palestinian officials, all seen as potential successors to Mr Arafat, to check on the Palestinian leader despite his wife's angry objections.
Mr Arafat will be buried at his West Bank headquarters in the city of Ramallah if he dies of his illness in Paris, Palestinian officials said.
Palestinian leaders say they will be meeting through the night at Mr Arafat's headquarters in Ramallah where it has now been agreed he will be buried.
In four decades leading the Palestinian nationalist cause, Mr Arafat has gone from guerrilla icon to Nobel prize-winning peacemaker to a shunned old leader facing renewed bloodshed with Israel. Mr Arafat has been in a coma brought on by a still-undisclosed illness, with his dream of a Palestinian state unrealised, a possible succession battle brewing and the threat of chaos in Palestinian territories looming.
He has been widely admired by Palestinians as the father of their struggle for statehood but was reviled by many Israelis as the face of terror. Both sides have wondered whether his death might serve as the catalyst for first real peace effort in years or plunge the region into deeper crisis.
Mr Arafat had been flown to the Paris military hospital from his battered West Bank headquarters where he had been effectively confined by Israel for more than two and a half years.
Despite his reputation as a consummate survivor, Mr Arafat's decline came swiftly and with little warning. Initial claims that he was suffering from a stomach ailment soon gave way to widespread reports that he had slipped into a coma and that his organs were failing.
French doctors kept a tight lid on details of Mr Arafat's condition at the behest of his wife, Suha, who engaged in a war of words with senior Palestinians officials over her virtual monopoly on information from his hospital bedside.
But today, as the officials arrived in Paris to check on Mr Arafat, doctors said he had slipped deeper into a coma.
The delegation including Prime Minister Mr Ahmed Qurie, Mr Shaath and Palestine Liberation Organisation
Secretary General Mahmoud Abbas arrived at the hospital after France hinted it was losing patience with the visit dispute.
The hospital had ruled out leukaemia but had not given any diagnosis of Mr Arafat's illness. Palestinian officials said he had suffered from liver failure. All three leaders who flew into Paris yesterday are potential successors and Mr Arafat's wife had accused them of wanting to "bury him alive".
Mr Shaath said the delegation wanted to get the full facts on Mr Arafat. Despite the bickering, US Secretary of State Mr Colin Powell said yesterday he was impressed by the Palestinian leaders' handling of Mr Arafat's absence and said he hoped the "relative calm" in the region would continue.
"I hope that sense of quiet and calm can be maintained and (that) it gives us something to work with," Mr Powell told reporters on the way to Mexico. He reiterated that the United States was "ready to engage as soon as it is appropriate to engage" with the so-called road map peace plan.
A top Islamic cleric was rushing to Yasser Arafat's bedside at the request of Palestinian officials. Taissir Dayut Tamimi, the head of the Islamic court in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, said he was going to Paris "to be near President Arafat at this crucial time." Palestinian officials have said Arafat may only have hours to leave. Tamimi did not elaborate. However, his opinion might be sought in any decision to remove Arafat from life support equipment.