Jerusalem in exchange for peace

2004-11-07 10:48

Jerusalem - Israel should allow the Palestinians to bury their leader Yasser Arafat in Jerusalem in exchange for a lasting halt to anti-Israeli attacks, opposition Labour MP Ofir Pines said on Sunday.

"Israel should give its consent for his funeral to take place in (occupied) east Jerusalem, on the condition that the Palestinians pledge - in accordance with the United States, the Europeans and the UN - to start down the path of dialogue and to renounce violence," Pines told Israeli public radio.

The comments by Pines, the former leader of the Labour party's parliamentary group, came as Arafat remained in critical condition in a French military hospital, where he was taken for treatment on October 29.

Last week, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon made it clear that he would not allow the 75-year-old Palestinian leader to be buried in Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa mosque compound, considered the third holiest site in the Muslim world.

Arafat has in the past expressed his wish to be buried at the mosque, but the site is also home to the Temple Mount, the holiest place in Judaism.

On Saturday, Palestinian prime minister Ahmed Qorei urged leaders of the main armed factions not to allow Arafat's eventual death to become a trigger for an outbreak of violence.

- AFP