PALESTINIAN leader Yasser Arafat will be buried in his Ramallah headquarters in the West Bank but on soil from Jerusalem, local affairs minister Jamal Shubaki said today.

"We have brought earth from Jerusalem" to Ramallah, the minister said on the eve of the funeral and burial of the veteran Palestinian leader, who died early today (French time) at the age of 75 in a French hospital.

Mr Shubaki said that at tomorrow's burial service at the Muqataa, Mr Arafat's body will be placed in a concrete coffin that could be moved at any time to a final resting place in east Jerusalem, where Mr Arafat said he would like to be buried.

"Soil from Jerusalem will be poured under the coffin," Mr Shubaki said, allowing Mr Arafat to be buried on earth from Jerusalem, home to the al-Aqsa mosque complex, the third holiest site for the world's Muslims.

Palestinian deputy Mohammed Hourani confirmed that Mr Arafat would be technically laid to rest on Jerusalem soil, if not in the actual holy city.

"The whole world must know that Israel prevented Arafat from being buried in Jerusalem," Mr Hourani said.

Mr Arafat had expressed a wish to be laid to rest in Jerusalem, which Palestinians want as the capital of their promised future state, but Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon categorically ruled out that possibility.

However, Palestinian negotiations minister Saeb Erakat said earlier this week that once an Israeli-Palestinian peace is reached, Mr Arafat's body could be transferred to the al-Aqsa compound.

"I think it (the burial in Ramallah) will be temporary and one day, when we have peace and we are alright as neighbours, president Arafat's body will be moved to east Jerusalem, to the al-Aqsa mosque," he added.

An official funeral for Mr Arafat was to take place tomorrow in the Egyptian capital Cairo, to be attended by heads of state or their emissaries, followed by the burial in Ramallah.

Bulldozers, dump trucks and a mechanical digger were being used today to clear away debris at the vast Muqataa compound ahead of tomorrow's burial.
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