A senior Palestinian Islamic cleric has said Palestinian President Mr Yasser Arafat's wish to be buried in Jerusalem should be respected.
The Mufti of Jerusalem, Ikrema Sabri, said Mr Arafat "willed to be buried in Jerusalem and from a religious perspective, we must and need to honour his will".
He comments increased pressure on Israel, which has insisted it would refuse the Palestinian leader permission to be laid to rest in the city if he dies.
Israel's justice minister, Mr Yosef Lapid, said Israel would not permit a Jerusalem funeral, saying the city is "where Jewish kings are buried and not Arab terrorists".
Mr Sabri, the most senior Muslim official in Jerusalem, did not elaborate whether Arafat had a written will.
The 75-year-old Palestinian leader has told aides privately in recent years that he would like to be buried near Jerusalem's Al Aqsa Mosque, Islam's third-holiest shrine.
The comments from both sides indicate a likely political fight over funeral arrangements for Mr Arafat, who is in a coma at a Paris military hospital.
Palestinian leaders hope to enlist international support for his burial at Al Aqsa, a Palestinian official said. Negotiations with Israel would only begin after Mr Arafat's death, the official said.
The mosque compound is built on the ruins of the biblical Jewish temples and is revered by Jews as the Temple Mount. Burial in Jerusalem would be seen as strengthening Palestinian claims to the traditionally Arab sector of the city as a future capital.