Sharon says Arafat will not be buried in Jerusalem

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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.

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Reacting to a proposal by Agriculture Minister Yisrael Katz, according to which Israel would not allow Arafat to return to Ramallah in the event his health improved, Sharon said that "Israel has made a commitment to allow Arafat to return to the territories." Sharon added, however that "so long as I am prime minister, Arafat will not be buried in Jerusalem."

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/495473.html

However, even the humiliation is now deeper than ever. The carnival preceding his death is yet another step in the de-humanization of all Palestinians. Would we dare speak about the burial place of another leader before he had died? And by what right do we allow ourselves to decide not only where he will live, but also where he will die? Or to announce that he was worthy of a crueler death, as MK Aryeh Eldad said? A diabolical doctor who is entrusted with the sanctity of human life, but pronounces "good riddance" at the death of a person.

Why did Israel apparently not offer medical treatment, at least? A shame, considering that Israel is responsible for the welfare of residents under occupation, according to the Geneva convention.

Israel accuses Arafat of having blood on his hands, but is there any less blood on the hands of own its leaders, who have led a campaign these past years where hundreds of women and children were killed? Arafat chose the path of terror, when no other military option was open to him, and when the chances of reaching a just settlement with Israel, without bloodshed, were nil. The terror, it must be honestly said, put the fact of occupation on the agenda, exactly like the liberation struggles of other peoples.

We should have talked and talked with Arafat, and not given up at any point, especially when he crossed the Rubicon by recognizing the State of Israel, a step that we never properly appreciated. His humiliation was the humiliation of his entire people, which never accomplished any positive results.

As a founding father, he could permit himself to be more moderate than his successors will dare to. When Zakariya Zubeidi, the commander of the Al-Aqsa Brigades in Jenin, who despises most of the officials in the Palestinian authority, speaks of Arafat, his tone softens. He would never speak out against the founding father, come what may. Zubeidi and those like him will never let any other Palestinian official reach a compromise with Israel.

Despite all his mistakes, which were not few, Israel did not exhaust all chances of reaching an agreement with him. He did not orchestrate the intifada, that much is clear today, and Ehud Barak did not turn over every stone in order to reach a peace agreement.

Those who succeed him will be far worse from Israel's point of view. If Arafat had some respect, possibly even admiration, for Israel's power and achievements, and if the next generation, Marwan Barghouti, knew Israelis up close and developed an ambivalent attitude, trying to talk peace, then disillusioned, turning to violence, the next generation of young Palestinians is lost to peace.

The youngsters in the Palestinian refugee camps never met an unarmed Israeli, one who didn't harass and abuse them. No compromise will be found there. Yasser Arafat fought for an eminently just cause - liberation from the yoke of a cruel occupation, even if the means he used were not always moral or just. But his death will not bequeath life to us.

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