lined, tomb. The Palestinians consider the grave site temporary _ a place for Arafat's body until the day they hope they can honor his request to be buried in Al-Quds city. Flags flew at half staff in the compound, where Palestinian policemen rehearsed rifle drills for the ceremony. Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia briefly stopped by to inspect progress on Arafat's tomb, while outside a few young men sat, heads clasped in their hands, next to posters of Arafat and piles of wilting flowers. Early Friday, black-uniformed Egyptian police lined Saleh Salem Street near the military club where the funeral began at 10 a.m. local time (0800 GMT), an hour earlier than officials had said it would. After a traditional funeral prayer lasting only a couple of minutes, eight dark-suited pallbearers carried the casket out of the mosque and handed it to an Egyptian honor guard. They placed it inside a silver hearse and drove away from the mosque; the carriage stood motionless flanked by Egyptian honor guards. A plane carrying Arafat's coffin arrived late Thursday at Cairo airport from a Paris military base. Suzanne Mubarak, the wife of the Egyptian president, hugged Arafat's widow, Suha, after she alighted. Arafat's coffin was then taken to the nearby Jalaa Club, a compound that includes a hospital, mosque and social club for military officers. It remained in the hospital until being taken to the club's mosque for the funeral. After the funeral, Arafat's coffin was expected to be taken to the Almaza military base just behind the club. From there, it was to be flown to el-Arish, in Egypt's northeastern Sinai Peninsula, according to Palestinian coordinator Hani Jebour. He said two Jordanian helicopters would then ferry the coffin and its accompanying delegation to Ramallah in the West Bank. Arafat was to be buried before sunset.
