CLAMART, France, Nov 7 (AFP) - Yasser Arafat continued to fight for his life in a French hospital Sunday as his top lieutenants planned for a smooth transfer of power in the event of the veteran Palestinian leader's death.
A spokesman for the medical service of the French army said that Arafat's condition remained unchanged in the military hospital on the southwestern outskirts of Paris where he has been in a coma since Wednesday.
With Arafat hovering between life and death in France, his prime minister Ahmed Qorei and former premier Mahmud Abbas grabbed the initiative at a series of top-level meetings in his now vacant West Bank headquarters by drawing up plans for a new era.
Qorei, who is at the helm of the Palestinian Authority in Arafat's absence, chaired a meeting of the national security council before joining a meeting of the dominant Fatah faction, presided over by Abbas.
The two men were then expected to join a meeting with leaders of other factions such as the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) in the evening.
The militant Islamist groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad will not attend the evening meeting but Qorei held talks with representatives of both factions in the Gaza Strip on Saturday where all parties agreed on the need for a united front if Arafat fails to recover.
Speaking after the national security council meeting, negotiations minister Saeb Erakat said there had been agreement on a security plan for the Palestinian territories but provided no details.
"Prime minister Qorei briefed the council on the deliberations with the factions in Gaza and all the steps we need to take to restore law and order," Erakat told reporters.
"It was decided that the security council will support the implementation of our security plan to achieve law and order in the West Bank and Gaza and to end the chaotic and lawless situation."
Fears that Arafat's death could be the trigger for an outbreak of lawlessness are particular acute in Gaza, where armed militants have clashed with security forces on a number of occasions in recent months.
Hamas, which has so far resisted pressure from Qorei to halt their campaign of anti-Israeli attacks, said there was a consensus on the need to maintain a united front but added that no agreement had been reached on forming a joint leadership at Saturday's meetings.
"We called on Abu Alaa (Qorei) to form a united Palestinian command or a temporary collective (leadership) and he was receptive to that idea," said Hamas spokesman Mushir al-Nasri.
"We still have to agree on the mechanisms or the channels in which the different groups will participate in this command, including Hamas."
With Qorei striving to ensure stability on the security front, Abbas is emerging as the chief player in the Palestinian political fold.
If Abbas can cement his control among the decision-makers of Fatah and the PLO, it could galvanise the moribund peace process. While Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and US President George W. Bush have snubbed Arafat, Abbas was a guest of both during his brief tenure as prime minister last year.
Abbas on Saturday chaired a meeting of the PLO's executive committee, whose members sent congratulations to Bush for his re-election and expressed their desire to work with him towards the implementation of the roadmap peace plan, which targets the creation of an independent Palestinian state next year.
Concrete information on Arafat's health continued to be scarce Sunday.
French army medical spokesman Christian Estripeau said that Arafat was "in a condition that is unchanged since the last medical bulletin."
The last official report on Friday also said that Arafat's condition had not deteriorated since he entered the coma.
In the event of his death, Sharon has already vowed that he will not accede to his old enemy's desire to be buried in Jerusalem and would rather see him laid to rest in the Gaza Strip.
Such a move would be seen as a major humiliation for Arafat who has been at the forefront of the struggle for a Palestinian state, with Jerusalem as its capital, for the best part of half a century.
Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz told the Israeli cabinet Sunday that the army were preparing for the possibility of Arafat being buried in Gaza, making arrangements for mourners from Arab countries which do not recognise Israel to access the territory via Egypt.
Erakat attacked Israel leaders for ruling out the idea of Arafat being buried in Jerusalem.
"We ask the Israeli public and politicians to respect the wishes of the Palestinians and we know that these acts and statements are alien to Jewish values and traditions," he said.
"It's not appropriate to speak about someone's burial while he is still alive. President Arafat is alive."

11/07/2004 13:59 GMT - AFP