ARAFAT DEATH WATCH

COULD IT BE THAT ARAFAT DIES THE SAME WEEK THE RED SOX WIN THE WORLD SERIES? ARE MY STARS ALL ALIGNED? TIME TO BUY A LOTTERY TICKET. BY THE WAY, ISN'T IT FITTING THAT ARAFAT GOES TO FRANCE FOR TREATMENT?

I AM SURPRISED THAT ISRAEL IS ALLOWING HIM TO RETURN AFTER TREATMENT. THE GOVERNMENT IS EITHER CONFIDENT HE WILL NEVER RETURN, EXCEPT IN A BOX, OR THAT IT'S BETTER TO KEEP HIM IN PRISON THAN TO HAVE HIM ROAMING THE WORLD AND LUNCHING WITH JIMMY CARTER AND KOFI ANNAN.

Source: Arafat to be flown to Paris for treatment
Palestinian Authority chairman Yasser Arafat is likely to be flown to France to receive adequate treatment, which is urgently needed yet cannot be delivered to the ailing leader in a Ramallah hospital. A member of the Fatah Central Committee told The Jerusalem Post Thursday that the team of Egyptian doctors, which will examine Arafat soon after they break the Ramadan fast, are likely to recommend Arafat be flown to a hospital France. ....

Earlier Thursday Sharon's former bureau chief Dov Weisglass said Israel has allowed the PA chairman to be moved "anywhere" for medical treatment. Weisglass added that Arafat will be allowed to return to his Mukata compound after he receives attention. Weisglass delivered the message to the Palestinians on Thursday via Israeli Arab MK Ahmed Tibi, who is in the Mukata, that if Arafat needs to be hospitalized overseas, Israel will guarantee that he can return.

Yasser Arafat may be transferred to a hospital in Ramallah within the hour for medical treatment, a security official said Thursday afternoon.

The official said Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz agreed to a Palestinian request to transfer Arafat to the local hospital. Mofaz said he will authorize any request for humanitarian assistance without a problem and so far Israel has agreed to everything the Palestinians have requested.

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon spoke earlier Thursday with PA Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei and gave him his consent to allow Arafat to leave his compound – which he has been confined to for almost three years – and go to any hospital he wishes, here or abroad.

SEE ALSO: Israel won't allow Arafat burial on Mount
National Union MK Uri Ariel spoke with Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz's office and Internal Security Minister Gideon Ezra on Thursday asking them to pass a government decision which would prevent Arafat from being buried on the Temple Mount. "There needs to be a cabinet decision on the matter," Ariel said. "If, however, that does not work out, then I believe that tens of thousands of Jews will come to the Old City in Jerusalem to physically prevent the burial. We will not allow for a repetition of the Faisal Husseini [burial on Mount]."

[ED. YOU'LL RECALL THAT HUSSEINI'S BURIAL TOUCHED OFF RIOTS AND PALESTINIAN ROCK THROWING AT WESTERN WALL WORSHIPPERS]

Fellow MK Benny Elon also called on Mofaz to announce officially that Israel will not allow Arafat to be buried on the mount. Diplomatic officials rejected reports that PA representatives had made an official request for Arafat to be buried on the Mount. Arafat himself had asked his supporters to arrange his burial on the Mount in March. "It will never happen," was diplomatic officials' response to the possibility that ailing Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat will be buried at the Temple Mount. "We are not dealing with this issue right now but one thing is for sure – Arafat will not be buried on the Temple Mount," the officials said.

Wakf officials, who oversee the holy Muslim sites on the Temple Mount, rejected Israel's right to decide on the matter. "Nobody will tell us where to bury him and the final decision belongs to the Palestinian people," Wakf director Adnan Husseini told The Jerusalem Post Thursday. "We will make the decision at the right time and nobody has the right to interfere except for the Islamic Trust and the 230,000 Arabs who live in East Jerusalem."

Asked if he had received any official requests by Palestinian officials regarding Arafat's desire to be buried on the mount, Husseini said, "We do not look forward to such an event and anyhow Arafat is not very sick and only has the flu. We hope he will get better."

Responding to the question of whether they think Arafat will eventually be buried on the Temple Mount, other Wakf officials said: "We wish."

On Thursday, police chief Insp.-Gen. Moshe Karadi held consultations with senior officers regarding possible scenarios that may develop following Arafat's demise. Police said that they are following the developments and together with the IDF have formulated a plan to deal with the potential results of Arafat's death, including the possibility he may want to be buried on the Temple Mount.

The last notable Palestinian to be buried on the Mount was Faisal Husseini, PLO representative in Jerusalem and a PA minister, in 2001. Faisal Husseini was buried at the site despite fierce opposition from some Palestinians, who said the privilege should be reserved only for devout Muslim figures. The Liberation Party, a tiny Muslim faction with a strong presence on the Temple Mount, spearheaded the opposition, but Husseini's aides managed to enforce their will.

In March, when Arafat had asked his supporters to look into burying him on the Mount, the Muslim Liberation Party distributed leaflets which called for thwarting Arafat's plan. Referring to Arafat, the leaflet said: "We warn this wicked infidel, who married a Christian infidel, against contemplating desecrating the holy Aksa Mosque."

Earlier this year, Jerusalem police also detained three Arab residents of Jerusalem on suspicion they were putting pressure on the Muslim Wakf to agree to allocate a plot on the Temple Mount for Arafat's burial. The three were served with orders banning them from entering the Temple Mount for three months.