Ailing Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat has agreed to be flown to Paris for medical treatment on Friday morning, Palestinian officials said on Thursday.

One of his medical consultants told reporters at the gate of the Muqata, the headquarters of Arafat in the West Bank city of Ramallah, that Arafat will leave for Paris at 6:30 a.m. (0430 GMT).

Arafat will first be flown to Jordan by a helicopter and then head for Paris via Amman, Palestinian financial consultant Monid Masry confirmed.

A French presidential spokesman said earlier that France was sending a plane to the region to airlift Arafat to Paris where he will be treated for a potentially fatal blood disorder. The French counsellor in the Palestinian territories has gone to Arafat's headquarters to make arrangement of his trip to Paris, said Dubai-based Arabiya TV.

Arafat himself has agreed to go to Paris for medical treatment, reports said.

Source: Xinhua