Arafat to be buried at his HQ

2004-11-10 08:10

Ramallah - Yasser Arafat will be buried at the battered West Bank headquarters that had been his virtual prison for the last three years, his aides decided after the deeply comatose Palestinian leader suffered another downturn.

The sandbagged compound, known as the Muqata, is seen by many Palestinians as a symbol of resistance to Israeli occupation, and Palestinian officials said it would be turned into a shrine.

The decision defused potential conflict with Israel.

Israel initially said it would only agree to a Gaza burial, the Palestinians insisted on Jerusalem, and Ramallah emerged as the compromise. The Muqata is just a few miles from Jerusalem, and Palestinian officials said their leader could be reburied in the holy city in the future.

Discuss burial arrangements

Both sides claim Jerusalem as their capital, and Israel fears burying Arafat - leader of the Palestinian movement for four decades - in Jerusalem would have strengthened Palestinian claims to the holy city.

Israel's security cabinet was to meet later on Wednesday to discuss burial arrangements, but was not expected to object to the Muqata plan, Israeli security officials said on condition of anonymity.

Palestinian leaders returned to the West Bank early morning, after rushing to Arafat's bedside in Paris for a firsthand look at his condition. For more than a week, Arafat's wife, Suha, had restricted access to her husband, causing a rift with his top lieutenants.

Palestinian Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath told a news conference in Paris that Arafat's condition had worsened, but that his organs still function. "He will live or die depending on his body's ability to resist and on the will of God," Shaath said.

Shaath, Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qorei and the PLO's No 2, Mahmoud Abbas were to hold more meetings in the Muqata on Wednesday morning, among other things to consider an offer by Egypt to hold a memorial service for Arafat at the Arab League in Cairo ahead of a Ramallah burial.

Memorial service

Such a memorial service would allow foreign leaders to pay their respects without having to visit the West Bank, where the tattered Palestinian security forces might not be able to guarantee their safety.

A Cairo service would allow Arab leaders to attend the funeral without having to enter the Israeli-controlled West Bank. Most Arab countries do not have relations with the Jewish state.

The United States and Europe plan to refrain from sending heads of state to a funeral, opting instead to dispatch lower-level officials, diplomats said. European Union states are co-ordinating and are planning to send representatives at the ministerial level, the diplomats said.

- AP