Thousands greet Arafat's body in Ramallah

Security forces started shooting in the air in a bid to restrain hundreds of people who surged towards the helicopter which had brought Arafat back to his final resting place after a funeral in Cairo.

A crowd of over 10,000 people had managed to make their way into the Muqataa although numbers had been meant to be limited. The number of people gathered on the streets outside was estimated to be well in excess of 100,000.

Many began cheering and chanting Arafat's name as they spotted the aircraft approach the central West Bank town, which lies around 10 miles (16 kilometres) from Jerusalem.

Arafat, who led the Palestinian struggle for statehood for four decades, died in a French military hospital on Thursday.

Two Egyptian military helicopters landed simultaneously at around 2:17 pm (1217 GMT), a little over a fortnight after Arafat was dramatically airlifted out of the compound where he had been kept under virtual house arrest by Israel for nearly three years.

Workman had cleared an area within the compound where Arafat will be buried although Palestinian officials hope to eventually move his body to east Jerusalem.

Israel has refused to countenance Arafat's burial in the holy city which Palestinians yearn to see become the capital of their promised future state.

Meanwhile, mosques across Gaza City offered prayers for the soul of Yasser Arafat yesterday, the Muslim day of rest, as clerics accused Israel of poisoning the veteran Palestinian leader.

Reciting special Muslim prayers instead of the usual Friday service, imams and members of the congregations prayed that their leader's soul would rest in peace and implored "God to grant him grace and mercy".

Most clerics dedicated their main weekly sermon to accusing Israel of having "poisoned" its peace partner turned reviled foe -- echoing charges levelled by militants from Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades.