Heavily beefed-up forces are deployed around Ramallah and elsewhere in Judea, Samaria and Gaza. A full military closure has been declared in these areas, but Arabs will be allowed to leave Yesha in cases of medical or other emergency.
All official PA activity will be halted for a week, and there will be no commerce for three days, in commemoration of the death of arch-terrorist Yasser Arafat. His death was announced early this morning, ending a week of hour-by-hour anticipation of his demise.
The PA leadership held an emergency meeting this morning, ratifying decisions made in the past few days regarding the allocation of power. Mahmoud Abbas, known as Abu Mazen, will have the top spot, namely, Chairman of the PLO Executive Committee; Muhammed Qurei (Abu Ala) will continue as Prime Minister and head the National Security Council and the security organs; and Rouhi Fattouh, speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council (the parliament), will serve as Palestinian Authority chairman for the coming 60 days, until elections for a successor are held.
Arafat's body will lie in state in Cairo, possibly at the city's airport, in a ceremony attended by political leaders from around the world. It will then be flown for burial in Ramallah, either Friday night or the next day.
IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Moshe Yaalon warned yesterday that the PA lacks the manpower in Ramallah to maintain control, in the event that the funeral gets out of hand. The IDF will not enter Ramallah today or tomorrow, but will rather isolate it, maintaining a tight outer perimeter - especially to the south, making sure no attempt is made by the mobs to advance towards the capital. The Chief of Staff said that if the Arabs attempt to march towards Jerusalem, they would be stopped.
Many disturbances have been registered throughout Judea, Samaria and Gaza today. These included tire-burnings in Gaza, Hevron and Ramallah, rock-throwings in various locations north of Jerusalem, around Bethlehem, and elsewhere in Judea and Samaria, and mourning marches in several places in Gaza. No one has been hurt in these incidents. At one point, the army essentially closed the Gush Etzion-Hevron highway to Jewish traffic.
Black clouds of tire-burning smoke are wafting above Gaza cities and Ramallah. The IDF, which has almost doubled its numbers in some places, has been instructed to "show respect" to the mourners, but to ensure that disturbances do not block main roads. Footage from PA-controlled cities showed that the mourning for Arafat was rather "restrained;" crying and weeping is not the order of the day.
Protection has also been reinforced in the country's prisons, where some 4,000 terrorists - known as "security prisoners" - are incarcerated.
All official PA activity will be halted for a week, and there will be no commerce for three days, in commemoration of the death of arch-terrorist Yasser Arafat. His death was announced early this morning, ending a week of hour-by-hour anticipation of his demise.
The PA leadership held an emergency meeting this morning, ratifying decisions made in the past few days regarding the allocation of power. Mahmoud Abbas, known as Abu Mazen, will have the top spot, namely, Chairman of the PLO Executive Committee; Muhammed Qurei (Abu Ala) will continue as Prime Minister and head the National Security Council and the security organs; and Rouhi Fattouh, speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council (the parliament), will serve as Palestinian Authority chairman for the coming 60 days, until elections for a successor are held.
Arafat's body will lie in state in Cairo, possibly at the city's airport, in a ceremony attended by political leaders from around the world. It will then be flown for burial in Ramallah, either Friday night or the next day.
IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Moshe Yaalon warned yesterday that the PA lacks the manpower in Ramallah to maintain control, in the event that the funeral gets out of hand. The IDF will not enter Ramallah today or tomorrow, but will rather isolate it, maintaining a tight outer perimeter - especially to the south, making sure no attempt is made by the mobs to advance towards the capital. The Chief of Staff said that if the Arabs attempt to march towards Jerusalem, they would be stopped.
Many disturbances have been registered throughout Judea, Samaria and Gaza today. These included tire-burnings in Gaza, Hevron and Ramallah, rock-throwings in various locations north of Jerusalem, around Bethlehem, and elsewhere in Judea and Samaria, and mourning marches in several places in Gaza. No one has been hurt in these incidents. At one point, the army essentially closed the Gush Etzion-Hevron highway to Jewish traffic.
Black clouds of tire-burning smoke are wafting above Gaza cities and Ramallah. The IDF, which has almost doubled its numbers in some places, has been instructed to "show respect" to the mourners, but to ensure that disturbances do not block main roads. Footage from PA-controlled cities showed that the mourning for Arafat was rather "restrained;" crying and weeping is not the order of the day.
Protection has also been reinforced in the country's prisons, where some 4,000 terrorists - known as "security prisoners" - are incarcerated.