# Yasser Arafat's burial location **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [November 5, 2004, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yasser-arafats-burial-location/273285 "2004-11-05T23:25:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![OliverTwistofLime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/b487fb/32.png) [@OliverTwistofLime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OliverTwistofLime)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2004, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yasser-arafats-burial-location/273285/1 "2004-11-05T23:25:08Z")
Arafat has made it clear in no uncertain terms that after his death he wants to be buried in Jerusalem. The Israeli leaders as of now have said _no way_. Gaza or the West Bank can be arranged but not Jerusalem. Negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians may be greatly affected by Israel’s final response. I believe that allowing a terrorist like Arafat to have his wishes would be sacriligious to all those Israelis and their families who were killed or maimed as a result of Arafat’s Palestinian leadership. Do you agree? or disagree?. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2004, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yasser-arafats-burial-location/273285/2 "2004-11-05T23:28:23Z")
> [@MadSam](#): > > I believe that allowing a terrorist like Arafat to have his wishes would be sacriligious to all those Israelis and their families who were killed or maimed as a result of Arafat’s Palestinian leadership. I believe any sacrilege is a small price to pay for peace. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2004, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yasser-arafats-burial-location/273285/3 "2004-11-05T23:33:20Z")
Put him in Gaza I guess. When some sort of peace is hammered out he can be moved elsewhere. Marc ---
**Author:** ![manhattan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manhattan/32/7_2.png) [@manhattan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manhattan)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2004, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yasser-arafats-burial-location/273285/4 "2004-11-05T23:51:48Z")
Arafat can be buried in Jerusalem immediately after Leon Klinghoffer is. ---
**Author:** ![MacTech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MacTech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacTech)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2004, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yasser-arafats-burial-location/273285/5 "2004-11-05T23:56:25Z")
i was listening to Michael Savage last night (just for kicks, love to hear what he’s incoherently ranting about 😉 ) and one of his callers had a good idea strap him in a wheelchair, sail out to the location of the Achille Lauro (SP?) put a bullet in his head and push him overboard i don’t understand all this “reverence” for a terrorist, at least Khadaffi (supposedly) has changed his ways for the better (i’m still cynical though) ---
**Author:** ![Rune](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e68b1a/32.png) [@Rune](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rune)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2004, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yasser-arafats-burial-location/273285/6 "2004-11-06T00:00:39Z")
He’s an Egyptian born in Cairo. He can be burried where he was born. ---
**Author:** ![Malodorous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e47774/32.png) [@Malodorous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malodorous)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2004, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yasser-arafats-burial-location/273285/7 "2004-11-06T00:03:03Z")
> [@MadSam](#): > > Arafat has made it clear in no uncertain terms that after his death he wants to be buried in Jerusalem. The Israeli leaders as of now have said \*no way What I heard was that he not only wants to be buried in Jeruselem, but on the Temple Mount!! If true, I can’t imagine that Israel would agree. The borders of at least part of the Palestinians state have been worked out. Burying the man who will no doubt be regarded as the founder of that state outside those borders would only lead to trouble. Put him in Gaza. ---
**Author:** ![Roches](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bc8723/32.png) [@Roches](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roches)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2004, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yasser-arafats-burial-location/273285/8 "2004-11-06T00:20:21Z")
So all they need to do to have peace in the Middle East is bury Arafat where he wants to be buried? Or would it just be an excuse for more violence if he isn’t buried in the right place? There will be violence regardless of what happens; the only thing that will change is the excuse that will be used to justify it. The CIA World Factbook gives the population of the [Gaza Strip](http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/gz.html) as 1,324,991 and the population of the [West Bank](http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/we.html) as 2,311,304. Arafat’s personal [assets](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yasser_Arafat#Financial_dealings) have been valued at around USD 1 billion. This is enough to distribute roughly USD1000 to each Palestinian family, if the assets can be liquidated. Will this be done? Or could it be that the quality of life of the people in the Occupied Territories is less important than the political and religious struggle in which they have been made to take part? (If someone would like to claim that this struggle is justified because these people’s homeland has been seized and occupied, please explain why there are no refugee camps on the German-Polish border where people have waited since 1945, still clutching deeds and house keys, to return to seized and occupied homes in East Prussia.) ---
**Author:** ![Roches](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bc8723/32.png) [@Roches](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roches)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2004, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yasser-arafats-burial-location/273285/9 "2004-11-06T00:27:26Z")
Rune: His birth certificate says he was born in Cairo, but he has always insisted he was born in Jerusalem. Others say he was born in the Gaza Strip. His biography at the [Nobel website](http://nobelprize.org/peace/laureates/1994/arafat-bio.html) says that his birthplace is disputed and his Wikipedia entry elaborates somewhat. I’d suggest reading his Nobel lecture, too; it’s really rather hopeful and willing to compromise compared to, for example, “Let [the Palestinian Authority]collapse, it will be the fault of Israel and the Americans,” from this February. ---
**Author:** ![rfgdxm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c0e974/32.png) [@rfgdxm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rfgdxm)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2004, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yasser-arafats-burial-location/273285/10 "2004-11-06T03:01:17Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > I believe any sacrilege is a small price to pay for peace. Good point. And, if Israel is gracious and allows him to be buried in Jerusalem, this would be an olive branch to the Arabs. Seems worthwhile in exchange for a small plot of Earth. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2004, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yasser-arafats-burial-location/273285/11 "2004-11-06T03:09:11Z")
> [@](#): > > Good point. And, if Israel is gracious and allows him to be buried in Jerusalem, this would be an olive branch to the Arabs. Seems worthwhile in exchange for a small plot of Earth Or would it be an excuse for Palestinians to demand that the burial place of their founder be inside their borders? That seems more likely to me - to create yet another claim on Jerusalem. I say bury him in Gaza, but hold out the possibility for his body to be relocated to Jerusalem AFTER a Palestinian state has been created and has proven itself to be a partner in peace. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2004, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yasser-arafats-burial-location/273285/12 "2004-11-06T03:23:19Z")
> [@MadSam](#): > > Do you agree? or disagree?. May I answer : “I don’t care”? I favor him being buried in the place that will cause the less turmoil, and as a result, bloodshed. Which place would it be? I’ve no clue. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2004, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yasser-arafats-burial-location/273285/13 "2004-11-06T03:25:50Z")
Actually, letting him have a burial in Jerusalem will force the IDF to guard the site day and night from family members of people killed in terrorist attacks, because I bet a lot of them will happily defile it. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2004, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yasser-arafats-burial-location/273285/14 "2004-11-06T03:28:16Z")
> [@Malodorous](#): > > What I heard was that he not only wants to be buried in Jeruselem, but on the Temple Mount!! If true, I can’t imagine that Israel would agree. . Actually, it seems there are already a number of tombs of famous Palestinians on the temple mount, and that would be the place where they would want to bury him. I’ve watched these tombs on TV, they’re like small fenced chapels, apparently right besides the mosque. ---
**Author:** ![rfgdxm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c0e974/32.png) [@rfgdxm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rfgdxm)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2004, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yasser-arafats-burial-location/273285/15 "2004-11-06T03:41:57Z")
> [@clairobscur](#): > > Actually, it seems there are already a number of tombs of famous Palestinians on the temple mount, and that would be the place where they would want to bury him. I’ve watched these tombs on TV, they’re like small fenced chapels, apparently right besides the mosque. And I’d think the Dome of the Rock on the Temple Mount would be more an issue than the rotting remains of Arafat. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2004, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yasser-arafats-burial-location/273285/16 "2004-11-06T03:55:44Z")
How is it sacriligious to bury him in Jerusalem? What the hell does “sacriligous” even _mean_? It’s a dead body buried in the dirt with millions of other dead bodies. The Israelis need to grow up and stop pretending that any little slight is the outrage of the century. Buring Arafat in Jerusalem is not going to kill anybody. I hope they plant him on the freaking Temple Mount. ---
**Author:** ![OliverTwistofLime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/b487fb/32.png) [@OliverTwistofLime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OliverTwistofLime)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2004, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yasser-arafats-burial-location/273285/17 "2004-11-06T04:36:48Z")
> [@Diogenes the Cynic](#): > > How is it sacriligious to bury him in Jerusalem? What the hell does “sacriligous” even _mean_? > > It’s a dead body buried in the dirt with millions of other dead bodies. > > The Israelis need to grow up and stop pretending that any little slight is the outrage of the century. Buring Arafat in Jerusalem is not going to kill anybody. I hope they plant him on the freaking Temple Mount. Your comment above suggests a total lack of emotion or feeling. Here you have a terrorist who refused to compromise to a peace plan…a man who supported constant attacks with “suicide” bombers…a man who symbolizes evil. Though his remains in reality consist of calcium, potassium, water and other similar ingredients, to allow this monster to be buried in Jerusalem is a symbolic middle finger at the whole Jewish nation. ---
**Author:** ![rfgdxm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c0e974/32.png) [@rfgdxm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rfgdxm)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2004, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yasser-arafats-burial-location/273285/18 "2004-11-06T04:50:38Z")
> [@MadSam](#): > > Here you have a terrorist who refused to compromise to a peace plan…a man who supported constant attacks with “suicide” bombers…a man who symbolizes evil. Here you have a man that won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1994, along with Shimon Peres and Yitzhak Rabin. A compelling argument could be made that Peres and Rabin score at least as high on the evilometer as Arafat. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2004, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yasser-arafats-burial-location/273285/19 "2004-11-06T04:55:58Z")
> [@rfgdxm](#): > > Here you have a man that won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1994, along with Shimon Peres and Yitzhak Rabin. A compelling argument could be made that Peres and Rabin score at least as high on the evilometer as Arafat. Sure, if you were talking to a compulsive IDIOT. You know, the kind of guy who has keep checking if fire is hot? ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2004, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yasser-arafats-burial-location/273285/20 "2004-11-06T04:58:43Z")
> [@MadSam](#): > > …to allow this monster to be buried in Jerusalem is a symbolic middle finger at the whole Jewish nation. You must admit it will make it more convenient were someone to want to dance the Hora on his grave, though. Really, it IS just “calcium, potassium, water and other similar ingredients.” Take comfort that his soul, the important part, will be where it belongs. The sooner the better, too. In my imagining of Hell he will finally see, truly SEE and UNDERSTAND, the evil he has wrought. Couldn’t happen to a more deserving guy, either. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yasser-arafats-burial-location/273285.md?page=2)