MUKATA, Ramallah – Yasser Arafat died this morning in Paris. He is survived by his wife, Suha, and 9-year-old daughter, Zahwa.

The Palestinian Authority yesterday moved closer to ending four decades of autocratic rule as officials in Ramallah reached an agreement on the division of Arafat’s powers among four people. They are the PLO no. 2, Mahmoud Abbas, Prime Minister Qurei, the PA foreign minister, Nabil Shaath, and the Palestinian legislative council speaker, Rouhi Fattouh.

Meanwhile, Cairo Airport was being readied last night for the imminent funeral of Arafat after the PLO representative in Paris said the 75-year-old Palestinian Arab leader was in the “final phase” of his life. Prime Minister Raffarin said late last night that Arafat was in his “final hours,” telling France-2 TV: “I hope that we can respect the final hours of a man who is approaching death.”

Palestinian Arab officials said Arafat’s body would lie in state at Cairo Airport, where the main state funeral would be held. He will then be flown to Ramallah and interred in a newly constructed mausoleum to be built in the battered Mukata “presidential” compound, where he spent most of the past three years.

The Israeli Cabinet decided yesterday in principle to allow Arafat to be buried in Ramallah. Three earthmoving trucks arrived at the Mukata yesterday to prepare for his burial.

The Palestinian Arab Cabinet minster, Saeb Erekat, told Army Radio that Arafat would be buried in Ramallah, and that his body may be transferred to Jerusalem if a diplomatic agreement is reached with Israel.

At a stormy meeting of the PLO executive committee and the Fatah central council, Palestinian Arab officials decided to appoint Mr. Fattouh as acting chairman of the PA.

Mr. Fattouh, the top Fatah official from Rafah, joins what appears to be a collective leadership that has emerged in Ramallah in the absence of Arafat.

According to a senior Palestinian official, the collective leadership signals the end of the “one-man show” in the PA and illustrates the difficulty in finding a leader who could step into Arafat’s big shoes.

He said Mr. Fattouh would serve in the post for 60 days until new elections are held. But, he added, “Fattouh will have no powers and his job will be largely ceremonial, resembling that of Israeli presidents.”

The decision to appoint Mr. Fattouh as acting chairman is in line with Palestinian Arab law, which states that the speaker of the Parliament would replace the president of the PA in the event of Arafat’s death or permanent incapacitation. The decision was taken after some senior officials expressed fear that Mr. Abbas and Mr. Qurei were seeking to change the law in order to enable them to take control of the PA.

The Palestinian Arab officials also decided that Mr. Abbas will control the PLO, while Mr. Qurei will be responsible for the PA Cabinet and the National Security Council, which oversees the work of the security forces.

The division of powers was expected to take effect immediately.

It was also agreed that if no elections take place within 60 days, the PLC will meet to decide the next steps.

In one of the most serious challenges to the new leadership, the PLO’s “foreign minister,” Farouk Kaddoumi, hinted yesterday that he was joining the battle for succession by calling on the PLO executive committee to hold an emergency meeting outside the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Mr. Kaddoumi’s appeal was seen by some officials in Ramallah as an attempt to discredit the emerging leadership. Mr. Kaddoumi, who lives in Tunis, is strongly opposed to the Oslo Accords and has refused to return to the PA areas until the PA abolishes the agreements.

Saleh Ra’fat, a member of the PLO executive committee, rejected Mr. Kaddoumi’s demand to hold a meeting abroad. “For the past 10 years the PLO executive committee has been meeting regularly under President Yasser Arafat here in the homeland, and it’s natural that the meetings continue here,” he said.

In Paris, Muslim cleric Taisser Bayud Tamimi, dispatched by the Palestinian Arab leadership to accompany Arafat in his final hours, announced that life support machines would not be turned off “as long as there are signs of life in the body of the president. It is prohibited in Islam.” He added: “I prayed to God for his recovery.”

Mr. Shaath said Arafat suffered from kidney and liver failure. Arafat’s brain was working only partially because of bleeding, and all his organs except for his heart and lungs “are not functioning well,” he told reporters in Ramallah.

[The Palestinian cabinet minister, Saeb Erekat, and Tayeb Abdel Rahim, a top Arafat aide, confirmed that Arafat died in a conversation with reporters at Arafat’s headquarters in the West Bank city of Ramallah, according to the Associated Press.

Separately, President Bush issued a statement of condolence to the Palestinian Arab people.

“The death of Yasser Arafat is a significant moment in Palestinian history. We express our condolences to the Palestinian people. For the Palestinian people, we hope that the future will bring peace and the fulfillment of their aspirations for an independent, democratic Palestine that is at peace with its neighbors,” the president’s statement said.]