Palestinian officials have announced that Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat is in "a very difficult situation" after collapsing on Wednesday.

According to the officials, the 75-year-old Arafat was brought to the medical clinic inside his compound at Ramallah, where he collapsed and was unconscious for about 10 minutes. A team of Jordanian doctors was urgently summoned to treat the ailing Palestinian leader, who has been forcibly sequestered at the compound by the Israeli government for the last two and a half years.