RAMALLAH, West Bank - An ailing Yasser Arafat performed Muslim prayers before dawn today and ate a light breakfast, but his condition remained serious and Israeli security officials said he would be moved from his headquarters to a nearby hospital.

However, Arafat's top adviser, Nabil Abu Rdeneh, said doctors examining the 75-year-old Palestinian leader today were still deciding whether he needs to be hospitalized. Arafat has been confined by Israel to his compound in the West Bank city of Ramallah since 2002.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, in a telephone conversation with his Palestinian counterpart, Ahmed Qureia, agreed to allow Arafat to be flown abroad for treatment if necessary. However, Israeli security officials said the Palestinians have only requested, for now, to take Arafat to a local hospital.

On Wednesday evening, Arafat's persistent two-week illness took a sudden turn for the worse. He vomited after eating soup, then collapsed and was unconscious for about 10 minutes, a bodyguard said.

Aides urgently summoned doctors from Jordan and Egypt, and Arafat's wife, Suha, was en route to the West Bank from Tunis. Suha Arafat lives in Paris, and has not seen her husband since 2001.

Arafat performed pre-dawn prayers and later had cornflakes for breakfast, said Monib al-Masri, a longtime friend who visited him today. "He prayed and he is fully awake," al-Masri told The Associated Press.

Palestinian Cabinet minister Saeb Erekat said doctors arriving from abroad, including teams from Jordan and Egypt, would decide whether Arafat needs to be moved from his headquarters to a hospital. The Jordanian team, including Arafat's personal physician, Dr. Ashraf Kurdi, crossed into the West Bank before noon.

Before leaving Amman, Kurdi told The Associated Press he didn't have an official report on Arafat's health but that the Palestinians had asked him to come "because he might be suffering from a serious disease."

Arafat has been confined to the sandbagged, partially demolished compound for more than two years. He has been kept inside both by occasional Israeli military blockades and by threats that he would not be allowed to return if he leaves.

Israeli security officials said Thursday that Israel is ready to guarantee Arafat's return should he seek treatment abroad. Israel is doing everything it can to avoid being blamed for Arafat's health problems, officials said.

However, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak was skeptical. "If Arafat wants to come to Egypt, it would be difficult to get Israeli guarantees to let him go back," Mubarak told reporters in Cairo.

Late Wednesday, Sharon spoke by phone with Qureia and agreed in principle to allow Arafat to be flown abroad, if necessary. The two men did not discuss whether Israel would ensure Arafat would be able to return, said Sharon aide Asaf Shariv.

Palestinian officials gave conflicting accounts of Arafat's condition. Some said he was in serious condition, while others had more upbeat assessments. "We are preparing ourselves for everything possible," Palestinian Communications Minister Azzam Ahmed told the Al-Jazeera satellite television station.

Arafat's health crisis has highlighted how unprepared the Palestinians are for their leader's death, making a chaotic transition period all but inevitable. Arafat has refused to groom a successor, fearing an impatient protege could turn on him.

One Palestinian official said Arafat has created a special committee consisting of Qureia, former Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas, and Salim Zaanoun, head of the Palestinian National Council, to run the PLO and the Palestinian Authority while he is ill.