Palestinians declare 40 days of mourning
THE Palestinian authority has declared 40 days of mourning as preparations are on top gear to return Yasser Arafat's body from the Paris hospital where he died.
Wails of grief and volleys of gunfire from Gaza to the Palestinian refugee camps of Lebanon and Jordan marked the passing on of the Palestinian leader.
Arab and other leaders will attend a funeral service in Cairo before the body is laid to rest in the West Bank.
To Israel, Arafat had always been a terrorist but now that he is dead, they have expressed hope of a new chance for peace.
Arafat, who dominated his people's struggle for 40 years, died at the age of 75 of multiple organ failure at 0330 (0230 GMT) yesterday.
He had been admitted to hospital after arriving from the West Bank on October 29 as doctors struggled to diagnose his illness.
On the day of his death, hospital officials would still not give the cause of his ailment, citing strict French medical privacy law.
Many world leaders have paid tribute to a man whom Russian President, Vladimir Putin, described as a "great political leader of international significance" while Washington merely noted that his death was "significant".
Palestinian policemen guarding the compound in Ramallah, where Israel kept Arafat a virtual prisoner for two-and-a-half years, could not hold back tears. Some men gripped one another's hands or hugged one another.
In Gaza City, thousands of distraught people crowded the streets to express their grief as gunmen let off volley after volley of fire.
Tyres were set alight sending up plumes of black smoke and loudspeakers relayed Koranic verses or broadcast famous quotations from Arafat.
A woman in Ramallah, who called Arafat the "teacher and father" of Palestinians, told the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) that his death had robbed her people of hope.
"I think that we will die or we will lose Palestine... There is no hope", she said.
Some militants accused Israel of causing his death and a leader of Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, Raid al-Aidi, swore to avenge it: "We held Israel fully responsible for the assassination of our mentor and father...It was caused by the siege imposed on him".
Camps in Lebanon, home to some 400,000 Palestinian refugees, also declared 40 days of mourning and convoys of gunmen fired in the air as they drove around.
The BBC's Lucy Williamson reported from Ramallah that the outpouring of anger some predicted would follow Arafat's death was "for now, largely absent and many talk of Arafat more as a national symbol than a political player".
Israel sealed off the West Bank as a security precaution and strengthened security at Jewish settlements.
But Prime Minister Ariel Sharon had spoken of a "turning point" for peace if the new Palestinian leadership rejected terrorism.
Arafat's powers are being divided among his officials, with Mahmoud Abbas elected head of the Palestine Liberation Organisation and Rawhi Fattuh sworn in as acting president of the Palestinian Authority.
Mohammed Dahlan, the influential former Gaza security chief, said the hand-over showed that Palestinian leaders were "carrying on with their duties in a democratic and smooth manner".
A helicopter has landed at the military hospital near Paris where Arafat died, amid speculations that it would be used to take the body to the airport.
Among the few non-Moslem heads of state or governments expected to attend the funeral are South African President, Thabo Mbeki and Swedish Prime Minister, Goran Persson.
Other countries like the United Kingdom (UK) are sending their foreign ministers.
Bulldozers have been clearing a space at Arafat's compound in Ramallah for his grave. Officials say he may be interred in a stone coffin so that one day, his body can be moved to Jerusalem where Palestinians hope to have the capital of a future independent state.
