Clinging on to life in a French hospital, Yasser Arafat was unaware tonight of the growing row over where he will be buried.

Yasser Arafat clung on to life today and is not brain dead, his spokeswoman said.

Yasser Arafat is in a “reversible coma” but not brain dead, his spokeswoman said today amid reports about the 75-year-old Palestinian leader’s condition.

Israel will permit Yasser Arafat to be buried in the Gaza Strip, but not in Jerusalem, an Israeli Cabinet minister said today, as the Palestinian leader lay gravely ill in a Paris hospital.

An Israeli Cabinet minister said today it was ``clear'' Yasser Arafat was brain dead and was being kept on a life support machine.

Armoured vehicles massed on Gaza’s border today after Israel’s security Cabinet approved a large-scale military operation – codenamed Days of Penitence - to stop Palestinian rocket fire.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is expected to fire one of his Cabinet ministers after television uncovered a scandal in which a minister is heard in a taped conversation planning to frame a fellow minister.

British journalist Peter Hounam was released from Israeli custody tonight after a day in custody on suspicions linked to freed nuclear whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu.

Israeli troops withdrew from a besieged Palestinian neighbourhood in Rafah refugee camp early today, leaving behind dozens of demolished homes, acres of levelled agricultural land and residents despairing over how the destruction will be repaired.

An Israeli cabinet minister said today that images of the army’s demolition of Palestinian homes in the Gaza Strip reminded him of his grandmother, who suffered under Nazi rule during World War II.

ISRAELI Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is scrambling to come up with alternatives after his Likud Party overwhelmingly rejected a withdrawal from all of the Gaza Strip, a government official said today.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is scrambling to come up with alternatives, including a possible pullout from just five Jewish settlements, after his Likud Party overwhelmingly rejected a withdrawal from all of the Gaza Strip, a senior government official said today.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon today warned that “tough decisions” lie ahead after his Likud Party rejected his plan to withdraw from the Gaza Strip.

ARIEL SHARON’S future as Israeli leader was in grave doubt last night as he faced possible charges following the indictment of a property developer on charges of bribing the prime minister.

PRIME MINISTER Ariel Sharon and key Cabinet ministers yesterday considered proposals to move sections of a contentious West Bank security barrier closer to Israel, apparently hoping to deflect growing international criticism.

The United States has criticised Israel’s prime minister Ariel Sharon over his threat to draw his own borders and isolate the Palestinians if peace efforts remain deadlocked.

A DISPUTE over the release of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails deepened yesterday, as Israeli security officials warned that the Palestinian Authority will have to move soon against militant groups they say are using the break in Mideast fighting to rebuild.

ISRAEL’S cabinet yesterday voted to release several hundred Palestinian prisoners, a move that could help push forward a US-backed peace plan.

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat said today that he expects an official announcement later today of an agreement by Palestinian militias to suspend attacks on Israelis.

Islamic militants have agreed to halt attacks on Israelis for three months and a formal truce will be announced before the weekend, Palestinian negotiators said today.

German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer’s visit to Israel, the first by a senior European official since the new Sharon government was installed last month, began with a snub today.

Israel’s opposition Labour party today dropped further in three opinion polls, just five days ahead of the country’s general election.

A burgeoning corruption scandal has cost Israeli Prime Minister Sharon his once commanding leading in opinion polls with a general election less than three weeks away.