Israel to block Arafat burial in Jerusalem
AFP, Jerusalem
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has reaffirmed that he would block moves to bury Yasser Arafat in Jerusalem, public radio reported Thursday as medical sources said the Palestinian leader was clinically dead. "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 Sharon as telling a weekly cabinet meeting on Sunday. A team headed by Sharon's private secretary, Israel Maimon, has drawn up a report to explain the premier's refusal and why such a burial would be unpopular in the country as a whole. Israel's private Channel 2 television, quoting political officials, said Israel would only sanction an Arafat burial in the Gaza Strip and would not allow its arch foe to be buried on ground it controls. The Arafat family has a cemetery plot in Gaza and Sharon intends to pull all Israeli settlers and troops out of the territory by the end of 2005.
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