Israel agreed to a Palestinian request to bury Yasser Arafat in Ramallah. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and top Cabinet members on Wednesday overruled military chiefs who said that burying the Palestinian Authority president in the West Bank would pose security risks to Israel. Palestinians plan to bury Arafat — who is in a deep coma in a French hospital
Former Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas is the leading candidate to succeed Yasser Arafat. Under a transition law ratified Wednesday in Ramallah, the speaker of the Parliament, Rawhi Fattouh, is to become interim president if Arafat dies. But elections would be held in 60 days in which Abbas, as deputy chief of Arafat’s PLO, is expected to win.
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