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

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.

Having ruled out leukaemia, French doctors were trying for a third day to determine what was causing the dramatic deterioration in Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat’s health.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said today that Yasser Arafat will not be permitted to be buried in Jerusalem if he dies.

THE ailing Yasser Arafat will be flown to Paris for treatment, one of his doctors said yesterday after the Palestinian leader spent most of the day sleeping, was confused at times and unable to hold down food.

When Yasser Arafat dies, Israel must make sure the Palestinian leader’s body is not buried in Jerusalem and take harsh measures to prevent militant groups from taking control in the Palestinian territories, according to a new contingency plan.

Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia today rejected claims made on Israeli television that a cement company owned by his family provided concrete for Israeli settlements and the Israeli West Bank barrier.

Israeli construction crews hoisted 25 ft high concrete slabs into the middle of a main road in a Palestinian suburb of Jerusalem today, cutting off thousands of people from the city they consider their home.

A PALESTINIAN suicide bomber blew himself up on a crowded bus as it drove along a busy Tel Aviv street at lunch-time today, killing at least five other people and wounding 49.

A 12-year-old Palestinian boy, breaking curfew to buy cigarettes for his father, was killed by Israeli army fire in the West Bank last night, a witness said.

Israeli vengeance for the massacre of at least 15 people in a Jerusalem pizzeria by a suicide bomber was controlled and deliberate.

Israeli warplanes demolished a building in the West Bank, in retaliation for yesterday's suicide bombing in Jerusalem.

Israeli police have closed down Palestinian political and police centres in east Jerusalem in response to the suicide bombing which killed 15.