'No Jerusalem grave for Arafat'

2004-10-31 18:24

Jerusalem - Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said on Sunday he would block any request by Palestinian officials to bury Yasser Arafat in Jerusalem, raising the spectre of mass unrest after the iconic leader's death.

With no official diagnosis on the 75-year-old's mysterious blood disease expected until Wednesday, Sharon told his cabinet that he would never allow the Palestinian leader to be laid to rest in the holy city, official sources said.

"As long as I am in power, and I have no intention of leaving, he (Arafat) will not be buried in Jerusalem," public radio quoted him as telling the weekly meeting, in response to a question by justice minister Joseph Lapid.

On Friday, the ageing Palestinian leader was dramatically air-lifted out of his West Bank base in Ramallah for urgent treatment in France after suffering rapid weight loss and vomiting while dropping in and out of consciousness.

In the past, Arafat has said that he would like to be buried in the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in the Old City that is considered the third-holiest site for the world's Muslims, after Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia.

But the site is also home to the Temple Mount, the most holy place in Judaism.

Palestinians see Jerusalem as a fitting final resting place for a man who has dedicated 40 years of his life to the creation of a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital.

Nevertheless, hundreds of thousands would be expected to march on Jerusalem for Arafat's funeral and stage mass demonstrations against Israeli occupation, with the risk of "total anarchy", a leaked foreign ministry document has warned.

Last week, a spokesperson for internal security minister Gideon Ezra confirmed that the security services were "ready for everything" should angry Palestinians in mourning flood into the city.

Three years ago, Faisal Husseini, an executive member of Arafat's Palestine Liberation Organisation, was buried in the revered Al-Aqsa mosque.

But an Arafat grave and pilgrimage site in Jerusalem would pose a security nightmare for Israel.

Instead, alternative locations have been raised, including Abu Dis, a suburb of the holy city outside Jerusalem's jurisdiction.

Another is Gaza, where the Arafat family has a cemetery plot. A third is Ramallah, home to the veteran leader's battered headquarters where he was confined by Israel for almost three years before being medivaced out on Friday.

- AFP