Mukataa
|
|
Mukataa (also spelled Muqataa) is a compound of buildings which contain governmental offices and local administrative headquarters. The term Mukataa is derived from Arabic and it is most commonly used to describe the Palestinian government and bureaus centers.
Palestinian Mukataas were mostly built during the British Mandate and were used both as British government centers and as a dwelling to the British administrative staff. Some Mukataas also include police stations and prisons.
After the Oslo Accords, the Mukataas were used as governmental offices and headquarters for the Palestinian Authority. The Mukaatas in Ramallah and Gaza (the two major Palestinian cities) were also used as headquarters to the high Palestinian Authority leadership, including an office for Yasser Arafat, who was elected president of the Palestinian Authority in January 1996.
During Operation Defensive Shield in April 2002, the Israeli Defence Forces raided the Mukataas in the West Bank. Some Mukataas, including the Mukataa in Hebron, were entirely demolished. The Mukataa in Ramallah was partially destroyed.
Arafat's Compound - the Mukataa in Ramallah
The Mukataa in Ramallah, also known as Arafat's Compound was raided by the Israel Defense Forces and later placed under siege. The IDF found in the Mukataa large amounts of weapons they deemed illegal and also documents claiming to prove the Palestinian Authority and Arafat's involvement in terrorism. Palestinians asserted that weapons in the compound belonged to the guard and security services. The Mukataa in Ramallah was later partly demolished by IDF bulldozers (such as the Caterpillar D9 and an armored excavator) in order to isolate Arafat's headquarters and lay siege to Arafat and his associates, some of whom were wanted by Israel for alleged terrorist activities. Other building and shacks were torn down in order to expose illegal weapons, ammunition and explosives.
At the time of his departure for medical care in Paris in October 2004, Arafat was under siege in the compound for over two years. In the early days of November, when it was clear his death was near, several locations were mentioned as possible burial sites. Jerusalem was the first choice, but Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said he would not allow this; and so, following Arafat's death on November 11, the Palestinian leadership decided that he was to be "temporarily" interred in the Mukataa compound, pending the establishment of a Palestinian state and the transfer of his body to the Dome of the Rock compound on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, at which time they intend to build a mausoleum on the site.
Plans for Arafat to lie in state at the Mukataa prior to burial were cancelled, because thousands of emotional mourners overwhelmed Palestinian security forces. Arafat was buried within the compound on November 12, 2004.
External links
- IDF Bulldozers tear down the Mukataa (http://www.waronline.org/en/forum/viewtopic.php?t=61) (Waronline.org Forums)
- "Arafat buried in Ram Allah" (http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/AE0A9D56-1018-460C-A4B6-91D58A5BDA3B.htm) (Aljazeera)
One of the most important topics of the Ottoman financial history is the institution of muqata'ah which functioned as an instrument in financing state expenses. The Ottoman bureaucrats of finance, by means of this institution, tried to meet state currency needs, raise loans in the interior and incorporate private entrepreneurship in the financing of the state.