Arafat laid to rest amid chaos

Yasser Arafat was laid to rest in a marble-and-stone grave at his battered Muqataa headquarters in the West Bank town of Ramallah on Friday after his flag-draped coffin was borne through a sea of emotional Palestinians who swarmed the helicopter that brought him from a state funeral in Egypt.

Shortly after Arafat was buried, the crowd began a prayer, joined by Palestinian leaders including newly appointed Palestine Liberation Organisation chairperson Mahmud Abbas and Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia.

Arafat’s body was flown back to his West Bank headquarters on Friday, sparking scenes of chaos as thousands of supporters tried to catch a last glimpse of the veteran Palestinian leader.

Overwhelmed Palestinian security forces shot into the air as the hordes massed around the helicopter carrying the body of Arafat from Egypt, preventing the flag-draped coffin being unloaded for about 20 minutes.

The coffin was then placed atop a car, but mourners swarmed as security forces tried to cross the sea of people packed into the Muqataa compound in Ramallah, where Israel kept Arafat under virtual house arrest for the last three years of his life.

“With our soul, with our blood, we will support you, Abu Ammar [Arafat],” chanted the supporters.

The chaos came after presidents and kings from across the globe attended a military funeral in the Egyptian capital, Cairo, honouring the man who failed to deliver his people an independent nation at a ceremony fit for a head of state.

Tens of thousands of people began converging on the West Bank city from before dawn ahead of the afternoon burial ceremony inside the Muqataa compound, from which Arafat was dramatically airlifted to France for hospital treatment a fortnight ago.

After lying in a coma for a week, Arafat was pronounced dead early on Thursday by medics who have not revealed the nature of his illness.

Israel had refused to fulfil Arafat’s wish to be laid to rest in Jerusalem, the holy city that Palestinians hope one day to make the capital of their promised state.

The Cairo funeral was the highest-profile gathering of international leaders in the region — representatives from 60 countries were present — since the funeral of Syrian president Hafez al-Assad in 2000.

It was held on the final Friday of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, the day many faithful celebrate al-Qods or Jerusalem Day.

But short of the massive popular funeral the Palestinian leader might have hoped for in his homeland, the ceremony was held in a military base under tight security and sealed off from the public.

“Arafat has done his duty as a defender of the Palestinian cause, with courage and honesty,” Egypt’s top Muslim cleric, Grand Sheikh of Al-Azhar Mohammed Sayed Tantawi, said during funeral prayers.

Among the heads of state attending were Jordan’s King Abdullah II, Lebanese President Emile Lahoud and, despite years of frosty relations between Damascus and the Palestinian leader, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Arafat’s widow, Suha, and their daughter Zahwa joined the mourners.

The United States, which long dismissed Arafat as an obstacle to peace, sent Assistant Secretary of State William Burns, while United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan was represented by Middle East envoy Terje Roed-Larsen.

Arafat’s senior lieutenants, including Abbas, flew back from Egypt to attend the service in Ramallah.

Palestinian security services struggled to restrain the flood of mourners who flocked to Ramallah.

Although entrance into the Muqataa was limited to family and dignitaries, up to 5 000 people tried to force their way into the compound through the main gate while thousands more were seated on the walls of the compound.

The crowd-control problems were not just limited to the outside. At one stage, a wooden structure inside the Muqataa collapsed under the weight of a throng of mourners, causing injuries, an AFP correspondent reported.

Israel had sealed off the West Bank but Palestinians living inside the occupied territory made their way to Ramallah in scores of yellow mini-buses that dropped them off at the checkpoints that surround the town for the long walk to the compound.

Palestinian security forces were out in force, blocking all the main arteries into the city with makeshift roadblocks of wooden crates, oil drums and heaps of rubble, all of which were closely guarded by policemen in black berets. Taxis and private vehicles were being prevented from entering.

Turning point

The death of Arafat has been seen across the world as a major turning point in the turbulent Middle East, providing some glimmer of hope of renewed Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon had refused to meet Arafat but he hosted Abbas on a number of occasions last year when the new Palestine Liberation Organisation supremo was prime minister.

“The death of Arafat could mark a historic turning point for the Middle East,” Sharon said on Thursday.

“If a new, serious, responsible leadership should emerge at the end of the Arafat era, one that fulfils its commitments in accordance with the road map … the conditions would be met to coordinate different options with this leadership, even to re-establish political negotiations with it,” he said.

US President George Bush, who had also dismissed Arafat as a failure, said he hopes his death will lead to an upturn in Palestinian fortunes.

“For the Palestinian people, we hope that the future will bring peace and the fulfilment of their aspirations for an independent, democratic Palestine that is at peace with its neighbours,” Bush said. — AFP

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