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 use to describe the Palestinian government and bureaus centers.

Palestinian Mukataas were built mostly during the British Mandate and were used both as British government centers and a dwelling to the British administrative staff. Some Mukataas also included 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 used also as a headquarters to the high Palestinian Authority leadership and had a headquarters office for Yasser Arafat.

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 IDF forces and later laid under siege. The IDF found in the Mukataa tons of illegal weapons and also documents claiming to prove the Palestinian Authority and Arafat's involvement in terrorism. The Mukataa in Ramallah was later partly demolished by Israeli Defence Forces bulldozers (such as the Caterpillar D9 and an armored excavator) in order to isolate Arafat's headquarters and lay siege to Arafat and his henchmen - some of whom are wanted terrorists by Israel. 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 of 2004, Arafat was under siege in the compound for over two years. In the early days of November, when it was clear his death is 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 Temple Mount area in Jerusalem. A mosque is to be built 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 burried within the compound on November 12, 2004.

External Links

• IDF Bulldozers tear down the Mukataa (Waronline.org Forums)
• "Arafat buried in Ram Allah" (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 buraucrats of finance, by means of this institution, tried to meet the need of cash of the state, to raise loans in the interior and to include the private entrepreneurs within the process of financing the state.