Egypt Agrees to Host Arafat Funeral

Nov. 11, 2004
News My Way

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt has agreed to host a funeral in Cairo for Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, who is in a Paris hospital where he suffered a brain hemorrhage, Egyptian and Palestinian officials said.

A senior Muslim cleric said he had seen Arafat alive on Wednesday. Aides have previously said he was dead.

Arafat is believed to have been born in Cairo although he insists he was born in Jerusalem.

"We will hold the funeral in Egypt and after that we will take President Arafat, after his long life, to Ramallah," Egyptian presidential spokesman Maged Abdel-Fatah told reporters.

He said detailed arrangements had not been completed, adding he hoped for "a miracle" so the plans would not be needed.

The funeral would be held at Cairo airport when the body arrived from Paris, a security official said. He said prayers and military ceremonies would take place before the body was taken to Ramallah, via Jordan, for burial.

The Israeli government had agreed Arafat could be buried in the West Bank city, Israel Radio said.

Traditionally in Muslim culture, funeral prayers are followed by a procession and burial. On the same day or sometimes later, a ceremony is held for offering condolences.

At previous funerals of Arab leaders, bodies have lain in state before burial while other leaders prayed over them.

A senior Palestinian official said in Ramallah that, if Arafat died, the Palestinian leadership had agreed to hold a ceremony in Cairo so Arab leaders and other dignitaries who could not come to the West Bank could still pay their respects.

"Egypt has also been notified of the Palestinian decision," the official said, after a Palestinian leadership meeting in the West Bank city.

Palestinian Arab League representative Mohamed Subeih in Cairo said the Palestinian leadership had agreed to a proposal for condolences to be paid at the League's Cairo headquarters.

The League was following the situation closely and would be sympathetic to any request for help, an official at the Arab League said.

Egypt, which hosts the Arab League headquarters, has been a key mediator in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict after it signed its own peace treaty with Israel in 1979, the first Arab state to take such a step. (Additional reporting by Mohammed Assadi in Ramallah)

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