French medical records show it is highly unlikely that poisoning or Aids caused the death of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat in a Paris hospital last year, The New York Times reported yesterday.

The newspaper, in a report from Jerusalem, said it obtained the records and they showed Arafat died of a stroke that resulted from a bleeding disorder caused by an unknown ailment.

An independent review of the records, The New York Times said, showed that despite extensive testing, Arafat's doctors could not determine the underlying disease that killed him.

Arafat died on November 11 at the age of 75 after being rushed from his West Bank compound to a French military hospital.

Arafat's gaunt appearance as he emerged from his headquarters and was taken to a helicopter on the start of his final journey to France led to speculation he was suffering fromAids.

But The New York Times said independent experts who reviewed

the medical records at its request determined that the course of Arafat's illness and pattern of his symptoms made Aids highly unlikely.

"They also suggest that poisoning was highly unlikely,," the newspaper added, although senior Palestinian officials continue to allege he was indeed poisoned.

According to the New York Times, a senior Palestinian official, who it did not name, gave the medical records to two Israeli journalists who agreed to share them in collaboration with the US newspaper, which did its own investigation.

The newspaper said Arafat did not receive antibiotics until 15 days after the onset of his illness, which was originally diagnosed as a flu. By the time he reached France, it added, it was probably too late to save him.

Some 10 days after Arafat's death, his nephew, current Palestinian Foreign Minister Nasser al-Kidwa, said medical records he received from the French Defence Ministry showed no trace of known poisons in the late Palestinian leader.