Israel's supreme court rejected Friday a bid by far-right Israeli activists to prevent top Palestinian official Faisal al-Husseini from being buried at Al Aqsa Mosque, reported AFP.
Husseini, who for many Palestinians embodied their dream of an independent state with Jerusalem as its capital, is to be laid to rest next to his father, Abdel Qader, who fought and died for Jerusalem in 1948,
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 one of his top PLO officials, who had died the previous day of a massive heart attack, Palestinian diplomats said.
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 later Friday in Jerusalem's Al Aqsa Mosque compound, charge d'affaires Atallah Khairi told AFP.
Husseini died in Kuwait on Thursday and his 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 will supply the helicopter to fly Husseini's body home, said the agency.
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 Kwaiti 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.
Meanwhile, a Palestinian MP 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 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 and Israel’s Army Radio, 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 – Albawaba.com
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
