Egypt prepares to receive Arafat's body, funeral tomorrow
Egypt is set to receive the body of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat today and give him a military funeral a day later.
Presidential spokesman Maged Abdel Fattah said the “military funeral” will be held in Cairo at 9am tomorrow. He did not specify where, but preparations could be seen underway at Cairo International Airport and a nearby mosque.
Details will become clearer throughout the day, an Egyptian foreign ministry official said this morning.
Egypt announced three days of mourning.
Arafat was to be buried in the West Bank after the funeral. Most Arab countries do not have relations with Israel and their leaders would not wish to enter Israeli-controlled territory, such as the West Bank, for an Arafat funeral.
His body is expected to be flown from Paris later this morning.
Palestinian officials started arriving to Cairo last night to discuss funeral arrangements. More are expected today.
The leaders of Jordan, Yemen, Algeria, Egypt, South Africa and Brazil will attend Arafat’s funeral, said Majdi Khaldi, an aide to Palestinian foreign minister said last night. Many other countries will also send representatives, but it remains unclear at which level.
Security is a main concern for Egyptian officials, who are trying to find a venue for condolence calls that limits any risk of an outpouring of popular emotion.
There had been speculation the Arab League, the pan-Arab organisation based in downtown Cairo, would host the funeral.
“The Arab League is open for contribution in anything asked of it,” league spokesman Hossam Zaki said. But Egypt “is the country closest to Yasser Arafat throughout his history. It’s the country that stood by him until his last moments”.
Arafat had claimed he was born in Jerusalem, but researchers say his birthplace was Cairo. He studied and started his revolutionary career in Cairo.
Egypt is also a major player in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, having signed a 1979 peace treaty with Israel and often mediating between Palestinians and the Israeli government. Hosting the funeral will be an important step toward forging ties with Arafat’s successors.
