EU and U.S. Heads of State Will Not Attend Arafat’s Funeral
AP 2004/11/9
Jerusalem
The United States and Europe plan to refrain from sending heads of state to a funeral should Yasser Arafat die, opting instead to dispatch lower level officials, diplomats said on Tuesday.
The question of where Arafat would be buried remains unanswered, with Israel determined to keep his remains out of Jerusalem. But a senior official from Arafat's Fatah movement said they are seeking to bury their leader at his West Bank headquarters in the city of Ramallah.
Israel is likely to oppose a funeral in the West Bank, preferring it be held in the more remote Gaza Strip.
As the 75-year-old Arafat's health deteriorated, countries were discussing how to pay their respects to a man who was both revered as the father of the Palestinian nation and reviled as a terrorist. Arafat suffered a brain hemorrhage, top aide Tayeb Abdel Rahim said at the West Bank headquarters.
The United States, which has sidelined Arafat in recent years, is examining several options -- from sending U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell to asking former U.S. presidents, such as Bill Clinton or Jimmy Carter to attend a funeral, a senior U.S. official said while speaking on condition of anonymity.
"In the olden days, vice presidents used to go but that hasn't happened in a while so it's not really being discussed," one diplomat said on condition of anonymity.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair also would probably not attend the funeral, but a British official speaking on condition of anonymity said Foreign Secretary Jack Straw may attend, though that was not final.
The European Union countries, meanwhile, were coordinating their approach, with diplomats saying that representation at the funeral would probably be at the ministerial level.
It was not immediately clear what plans Arab leaders had for the funeral, with most facing the dilemma of paying respects to a major Arab leader, while wary of going to Israel -- a country with which they have no formal relations.
"This doesn't have anything to do with Arafat and his stature," Gehad Auda, an Egyptian political analyst in the United Arab Emirates. "It has to do with Israel."
Egyptian President Husni Mubarak attended Yitzhak Rabin's funeral after his 1995 assassination, setting a precedent for traveling to Israel for a funeral. Jordanian King Abdullah, whose late father King Hussein also attended Rabin's funeral, would be able to go to the West Bank, Auda said.
Meanwhile, it remains unclear where a funeral will be held. Top Palestinian officials had hoped to bury Arafat at the sacred Al Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem -- a demand Israel rejected outright since it also is revered as the site of the biblical Jewish temples.
Both sides claim Jerusalem as their capital, and Israel fears burying Arafat -- leader of the Palestinian movement for four decades -- in Jerusalem would strengthen Palestinian claims to the holy city. Israel wants Arafat buried in the Gaza Strip, where other members of his family are buried.
However, senior officials from Arafat's Fatah movement, speaking on condition of anonymity Tuesday, said that Prime Minister Ahmed Qureih and his predecessor Mahmoud Abbas endorse Ramallah -- the site of his compound -- for his final resting place. The compound could be turned into a museum.
Abdel Rahim said Palestinian leaders would be meeting throughout the night at Arafat's headquarters, also known as the Moqtada, "to follow everything and to agree on the details of the required arrangements."
"If the fate of God comes, all the arrangements will be made here in the Moqtada, which is considered a symbol of Palestinian steadfastness," he said.
Turning the compound into a museum could make it a pilgrimage destination for Palestinians as well as a tourist attraction for foreigners. Most Palestinians should have access to it in Ramallah, and it would be close to Jerusalem for visiting foreigners.
Hani Masri, a Palestinian columnist for Alayyam, said that if the fight to bury Arafat in Jerusalem fails, he should be buried in his Moqtada compound, "the place where he was besieged for three years ... where he was steadfast and resisted the Israeli occupation."
"It will be like a mausoleum," Masri said.
However, Israeli security and government officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Ramallah is not an option. Israel fears a funeral in Ramallah could present a security risk because of its close proximity to Jerusalem and due to the many army-manned roadblocks surrounding the town.
Security officials said Israel would allow Arab dignitaries to fly in Israeli airspace from Jordan to Gaza, and permit buses from the West Bank to cross Israeli territory.
In downtown Ramallah, most Palestinians said they expected Arafat to be buried in Jerusalem.
"Ramallah is impossible," said Fayez Manasara, a jewelry shop owner. "That compound has always been a military installation, before the Palestinians it was controlled by the Israelis, and before them the Jordanians and the British. It can't be turned into a museum."
A man who works as a security guard at the compound said that before being taken away in the helicopter, Arafat said he wanted to be buried in Jerusalem.
"That was his wish," said the man who would not give his name.
"When you say Arafat you mean Palestine," said English student Mamdouh Triyaki, 20. "He should be buried at al-Aqsa."
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