GAZA CITY (AFP) - The political chief of the radical Hamas movement, Khaled Meshaal, called ailing Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat at his sick bed in Paris to inquire after his health, a Hamas spokesman told AFP yesterday.

"Khaled Meshaal called president Arafat last night to inquire about his health. He also called (Palestinian prime minister Ahmed) Qorei and Abu Mazen," Mushir al-Masri said, referring to former premier Mahmud Abbas.

Earlier, the official Palestinian news agency Wafa reported that Meshaal had called Arafat "to wish him good health and to wish for him to return to Palestine and to his people".

Meshaal is the head of Hamas' Damascus-based politburo, but his exact whereabouts are usually shrouded in mystery for fear that he could be the target of Israeli attack.

Two other top Hamas leaders have been killed in Israeli air strikes this year.

Meshaal has kept contacts with Arafat to a minimum but did ring the veteran leader back in July to urge action to tackle an unravelling security crisis in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Arafat was flown to Paris for urgent medical treatment last Friday after his health sharply deteriorated last week.
With the 75 year-old leader undergoing tests in France,
Qorei has taken over as acting head of the Palestinian Government while Abbas has temporarily taken charge of the Palestine Liberation Organisation and Arafat's dominant Fatah faction.

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