PALESTINIAN leader Yasser Arafat, suffering from a serious but mystery illness, arrived in France on a stretcher yesterday for urgent treatment - ending nearly three years of Israeli-imposed confinement at his battered West Bank compound.

As he was helped into a helicopter at his compound in Ramallah on the first stage of his journey, Mr Arafat said: "God willing, I will return."

The leader was taken to Paris on a French Defence Ministry Falcon 900 jet and was transferred by helicopter to a military hospital under tight security.

Paramedics carried Mr Arafat, 75, into the hospital on a stretcher, with his estranged wife, Suha, at his side.

The Hopital d'Instruction des Armees de Percy, where Mr Arafat is being treated, has a major trauma centre and specialises in the treatment of blood disorders.

Police closed roads leading to the building and set up barricades in front of its main entrance, where a small group of supporters gathered holding bouquets and waving Palestinian flags.

"I am waiting for Yasser Arafat to tell him that we are with him," said Fatima Mera, a 35-year-old Frenchwoman of Moroccan origin.

"We hope he will leave here and continue the struggle for the Palestinian people."

Arafat's presence in France also stirred some controversy. Families of French victims of terrorist attacks in Israel plan to ask judicial authorities to question Mr Arafat.

The pursuit of any criminal probe is bound to complicate the French government's diplomatically sensitive decision to provide him with medical treatment.

French president Jacques Chirac said: "It goes without saying that France, a land of welcome, would not question the right of the president of the Palestinian Authority to come to our country for treatment."

The Palestinian leader has been sick for two weeks, and blood tests revealed he has a low platelet count.

Mr Arafat's personal doctor, Ashraf Kurdi, ruled out leukaemia and said there was no immediate threat to his life.

"His condition is good, his spirits are high," Mr Kurdi said.

Doctors have also dismissed suggestions by Israeli officials that Mr Arafat could be suffering from stomach cancer.

The Palestinian leader has also shown symptoms of Parkinson's disease since the late 1990s.