Arafat led the Palestinian struggle for decades until his death in 2004 [AFP]

The newly built complex was erected at the compound where Arafat spent his last two years under siege by Israeli forces.
 
Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, laid a wreath at the marble tomb during the ceremony on Saturday.
 
The ceremony launches a series of events to commemorate Arafat three years after he died of an unknown ailment in a Paris hospital.

Jerusalem burial

The mausoleum is made of glass and beige Jerusalem stone and surrounded on three sides by water. A piece of train track was also entombed under Arafat's grave.

The water and track are meant to symbolise the temporary nature of the mausoleum, as Palestinians hope to one day bury Arafat in Jerusalem.

In the ceremony Abbas called for Arafat to be buried in Jerusalem, "which he loved, and where he was born, and which our entire people is determined will be the capital of a Palestinian state".

Israel has long refused requests for Arafat to be buried in Jerusalem, citing security concerns.

Museum planned

The Arafat Foundation, set up to preserve the Nobel peace laureate's legacy, has supervised the building of the memorial, which will also include a mosque and a museum.

It is chaired by Nasser al-Qidwa, Arafat's nephew and the former Palestinian representative to the United Nations.

The Arafat museum will exhibit his personal effects, items from his office, presents and documents, al-Qidwa said.

Suffering from stomach pains, Arafat was airlifted to a hospital in Paris,  where his wife and daughter lived, before falling into a coma and dying on November 11, 2004.

The precise cause of Arafat's death is still mysterious.

Several Palestinian officials accused Israel of poisoning him although these claims have never been verified.

Recommend this article...

Did you enjoy this article? Please bookmark it onto: