Thousands of Palestinians, headed by President Yasser Arafat, packed the old streets of east Jerusalem on Friday in a procession to bury their popular leader, Faisal Husseini.
Foreign representatives, including UN envoy Terry Larsen, took part in the massive funeral.
Husseini was buried at Al Aqsa Mosque compound, next to his father, a legendary military hero who fought and died for Jerusalem in 1948, as well as the grave of his grandfather, a nationalist figure during the British mandate.
The funeral procession of several thousand people followed the coffin, entering the Old City through the Damascus Gate.
Residents of the holy city sprinkled water from their windows onto the mourners, who were sweating from a hot desert wind, said AFP.
The procession had earlier taken the body inside Orient House, Husseini's former Jerusalem office, but the coffin had to be removed after five minutes because of a massive turnout.
Feelings of passion and joy filled Arab east Jerusalem where the Palestinian crowds had taken over the streets, and Israeli security forces seemed invisible in this sector occupied by the Jewish state in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, according to the agency.
But Al Jazeera satellite channel's correspondent said that the Israeli security insisted at a checkpoint that the Palestinian military vehicle carrying the coffin be replaced with a car with a Jerusalem number plate.
Palestinians all over the land prayed at mosques for their leader's soul, said Palestinian news agency (WAFA).
Husseini died of a massive heart attack Thursday in Kuwait on the first visit by a senior Palestinian official to the emirate since Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait.
Meanwhile, Israel's supreme court rejected Friday a bid by far-right Israeli activists to prevent Husseini’s burial.
Noam Federman, a member of the outlawed anti-Arab movement Kach, and Gershom Salomon, leader of the Temple Mount Faithful, had filed appeals claiming that Israel's antiquities law forbids burials on the holy site.
Palestinian President Yasser Arafat flew into Jordan at dawn Friday to pay his last respects to the top PLO official.
Arafat cut short a European trip and flew in from Brussels to escort Husseini's body to Ramallah on the West Bank ahead of the official's burial.
Husseini’s body was flown to Jordan aboard a government plane to a dignified and mournful welcome by 200 people and dignitaries including his son Abdul Qader and his brother Moussa.
Jordan's King Abdullah deplored his death, saying Jerusalem -- one of the key flashpoints between Israel and the Palestinians -- had lost one of its "prominent defenders.”
Jordan's armed forces supplied the helicopter which flew Husseini's coffin home.
Arab and international figures lamented the death of Husseini, including French Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine, Israeli former justice minister Yossi Belin, Arab League Secretary Amr Moussa and the Kuwaiti emir, Sheikh Jaber Al Sabah.
Jerusalemites were shown in TV coverage dressed in black, mourning for their leader, while Orient House, the Palestinian institution in east Jerusalem where Husseini worked, was opened to receive condolences.
Lebanon said Friday the unexpected death of Husseini was a "loss" for the Palestinian cause.
"It is a loss for the Palestinian cause as he was determined to hold on to the rights of the Palestinian people," Foreign Minister Mahmud Hammud told reporters.
"It is important that the Palestinian people and their leadership maintain their positions, hold on to their rights and defend their convictions despite the fierce daily (Israeli) attacks," Hammud said, quoted by AFP.
A Palestinian MP had said that Husseini’s family the PA had refused to allow Kuwaiti authorities to perform an autopsy on Husseini, who was the Palestinian Authority's official in charge of the Jerusalem File.
A Jerusalem deputy, Hatem Abdul Qader, angrily told Al Jazeera satellite channel on Thursday that they would not allow the Kuwaitis to deal with Husseini dead after they did not welcome him alive.
Abdul Qader had told the station earlier that Husseini was tense after he attended a parliamentary committee meeting in Kuwait Wednesday, in which MPs attacked the PA and Arafat personally.
According to press reports, the official died of a heart attack after a verbal quarrel with Kuwaiti police officers who wanted to arrest one of his guards.
Reuters confirmed the story, identifying the guard as Nasser Qawwas, who is wanted by Kuwait for “security crimes” he allegedly committed during the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait between 1990-1991.
Husseini, 61, who arrived in Kuwait on Tuesday on the first visit by a Palestinian minister to the Gulf Arab state in 11 years, died at his hotel before the start of a conference of non-governmental groups on Thursday in Kuwait, said Reuters.
Comments by Husseini on improving ties with Kuwait, severed since the Gulf country accused the Palestinian leadership of supporting Iraq during its occupation of Kuwait, triggered an uproar in Kuwait's parliament on Wednesday.
Several MPs had told Husseini that Palestinian President Yasser Arafat was "persona non grata" in Kuwait.
Opposition MP Ahmad Al Saadoun, a three-time former speaker, strongly criticized Husseini for saying upon arrival that "God willing" Arafat would visit Kuwait.
"We hope the dark day when we see Arafat and his men in Kuwait will never come," MP Waleed Al Jerri said.
Parliament speaker Jassem Al Khorafi said Kuwaitis would not welcome the Palestinian president, adding that he did not believe an official invitation would be extended.
Voicing the position of several MPs, Saadoun said the Palestinian president, who once worked in Kuwait and formed his Fateh resistance group there in 1959, was "persona non grata."
But Husseini, further angering MPs, came to parliament on Wednesday and spent two hours discussing the deep rift between the PA and Kuwait with four members of a foreign relations panel.
Palestinian figures interviewed by satellite stations blamed the MPs’ attack on Husseini for the his death, but Arafat said that the late Husseini’s health had deteriorated after he inhaled tear gas released by Israeli forces during a rally in which he took part in Jerusalem few days ago.
In an angry reaction, Israel dismissed Arafat’s remarks as "preposterous," said AFP.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's spokesman Raanan Gissin issued a statement rejecting the claims.
"This is not the first time that Arafat … used preposterous and baseless lies of this sort about the use of toxic gas or other poisons per se, which allegedly caused the deaths of Palestinians," he said.
"This is a sheer lie, which serves to systematically incite violence and hate, and which leads to the kind of hostilities that the Palestinian Authority has instigated for the past eight months."
He also charged that Arafat's statement was a "glaring violation" of the spirit and letter of the Mitchell report into the violence, which recommended a halt to violence and incitement – Albawaba.com
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
