Mukataa

[2] The siege was lifted on 2 May after six men wanted by Israel – four of them convicted of involvement in the October 2001 assassination of the Israeli tourism minister Rehavam Ze'evi – were moved to a prison in Jericho to be guarded by U.S. and British wardens.

[3][4][5] Although the military had withdrawn from the compound, the cities and refugee camps in the West Bank remained surrounded by Israeli troops.

[8] While Arafat was building a new Cabinet, the Israeli army five days later strengthened the siege on his headquarters with the support of US President George W. Bush.

[11][12] UN Under-Secretary-General Terje Rød-Larsen, one of the architects of the Oslo Accords, said on 27 September that "the Israeli army's siege of Yasser Arafat amid the ruins of his bulldozed presidential compound could mean 'the death' of hopes for a Palestinian state and a peace agreement."

In a statement it said: "Recent days' events have proven again that Yasser Arafat is a complete obstacle to any process of reconciliation... Israel will act to remove this obstacle in the manner, at the time, and in the ways that will be decided on separately...."[14][15] The compound remained under siege until Arafat's transfer in October 2004, for medical care in a French hospital.

Plans for Arafat to lie in state at the Mukataa prior to burial were canceled, because thousands of emotional mourners overwhelmed Palestinian security forces.

On 11 November 2007, a larger tomb clad in Jerusalem stone, and designed by Palestinian architects opened to the public.