Arafat burial preparations under way
 |  Heavy equipment is used to remove a wrecked car from Arafat's Ramallah compound. |
| |
|  VIDEO |
 Retirement is a rarity among Arab leaders.
 Hospital officials say Yasser Arafat is in a deeper coma.
 Arafat's wife, Suha, lashes out at Palestinian officials.
|
|
RAMALLAH, West Bank (CNN) -- Preparations were under way in Ramallah on Wednesday for the burial of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, who is gravely ill in a Paris hospital.
Bulldozers and trucks were busy preparing for the burial at Palestinian Authority headquarters, moving burned-out cars, rubble of destroyed buildings and other debris left from three years of the renewed intifada.
Crews also were preparing to construct a moveable monument in which to bury the Palestinian leader, one that perhaps could be moved to Jerusalem one day, Palestinian sources said.
Jerusalem was Arafat's first choice for burial, but the Israeli government firmly rejected that idea.
Israel agreed to allow Arafat to be buried at his Ramallah compound in the West Bank after an Israeli Cabinet security meeting Wednesday morning, the office of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said.
Also Wednesday, Palestinian officials accepted an offer by Egyptian officials to host Arafat's state funeral in the Cairo suburb of Nasr City.
Palestinian Foreign Minister Nabil Sha'ath said the executive committee of the Palestinian Authority agreed to a Cairo funeral during a meeting in Ramallah Wednesday.
"We've accepted President (Hosni) Mubarak's invitation to have the funeral in Cairo, where he (Arafat) will be laid in state and where many world leaders will come and pay him respect," Sha'ath told CNN's Wolf Blitzer in a taped interview.
"Then he will be transported by an Egyptian helicopter directly from Cairo to Ramallah, where he will also have a public procession here and prayers. Then he will be buried in a tomb in Muqataa." Muqataa is Arafat's compound in Ramallah.
The foreign minister said it was decided Tuesday when he was in Paris with a delegation of Palestinian leaders that Suha Arafat, the Palestinian leader's wife, will accompany her husband's body to Cairo and also will attend services in Ramallah.
Arafat, 75, has been hospitalized since October 29 and is in a deep coma in critical condition after suffering a brain hemorrhage, according to Palestinian officials.
Arafat was born in Cairo in 1929, and Arab media reports have said the funeral service would be in accordance with his will.
The Israeli Cabinet Wednesday announced its decision and conditions for burial, pending Arafat's death:
Israel will allow a procession and burial of Arafat in Ramallah.The Palestinians will be responsible for security inside Ramallah.Israel Defense Forces will be in charge of security outside the West Bank city.Israel will allow Israeli citizens to attend burial ceremonies in Ramallah.Only Palestinian VIPs will be allowed to travel from Gaza to Ramallah for services.Israeli police will be on special alert in Jerusalem.Leila Shahid, the Palestinian Liberation Organization representative in Paris, said security measures are necessary because Arafat's death will spark "tremendous emotion both in Palestine, in the Arab world, in the Muslim world and in the whole world."
CNN Correspondents Michael Holmes in Ramallah, CNN's Jim Bittermann in Paris and Ben Wedeman in Cairo contributed to this report
