Ashraf Kurdi, a Jordanian neurologist, told UPI, "Food poisoning is one of the hypotheses that were taken into consideration while trying to diagnose Arafat's case before he was transferred to France."
Kurdi did not say if the poisoning could have been intentional or accidental.
The Saudi international daily al-Sharq al-Awsat newspaper quoted a senior Palestinian official as saying he did not rule out the possibility Arafat was being poisoned slowly.
The unidentified official said the people who were involved in preparing Arafat's food were being investigated and interrogated.
Kurdi said he had not received any information about the results of tests conducted on Arafat after he arrived Friday at the Bercy military hospital in France.
Earlier Saturday, Arafat's national security adviser, Jibril Rajjoub, told reporters initial test results indicated the Palestinian leader was not suffering from cancer.
Copyright 2004 by United Press International
