Tens of thousands of people are expected to throng the West Bank city of Ramallah today for the interment of Mr Yasser Arafat, the 75-year-old Palestinian leader who died early yesterday in Paris, writes Michael Jansen in Ramallah.
This morning Mr Arafat will be accorded what his supporters will see as a state funeral in the Egyptian capital, Cairo. It will be attended by dignitaries from around the world, although most will be senior members of government rather than prime ministers or heads of state.
Ireland will be represented by the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Dermot Ahern. The President, Mrs McAleese, and the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, both expressed their condolences yesterday.
Mr Arafat's coffin, accompanied by his widow, Suha, arrived in Cairo last night after being seen off from Paris by President Jacques Chirac, the French Prime Minister, Mr Jean-Pierre Raffarin, the Foreign Minister, four former prime ministers and other dignitaries.
Soldiers in ceremonial uniform carried him across the tarmac of a military airfield outside Paris and on to an aircraft, to the strains of the Marseillaise and Chopin's funeral dirge.
The cause of Mr Arafat's death was not stated, apparently at Mrs Arafat's request. He went to Paris on October 29th, gravely ill with an undisclosed condition and slipped into a coma last weekend. He was finally pronounced dead at 3.30 a.m. yesterday after days of uncertainty and frequently conflicting claims about the state of his health. His eventual passing was announced first in Ramallah.
Mr Arafat, who was President of the Palestinian Authority, was the symbol of Palestinian aspirations for some 40 years. In 1993 he reached a peace agreement with the Israeli leaders, Mr Yitzhak Rabin and Mr Shimon Peres, for which all three were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
However Mr Rabin was assassinated two years later by an Israeli extremist and Mr Arafat was accused of failing to deliver his side of the bargain, an accusation supported by the former US president, Mr Bill Clinton, who brokered the agreement.
Yesterday President Bush described Mr Arafat's death as "a significant moment in Palestinians' history" and urged the world to help his successors achieve "an independent democratic Palestine" at peace with Israel.
Last night the British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, flew to Washington, the first foreign leader to meet Mr Bush since the US President's re-election. The stalled Middle East peace process is expected to be high on their agenda.
News of Mr Arafat's death was not met with sadness in Israel, where many people regard him as a mass murderer who had not turned away from terrorism. The Prime Minister, Mr Ariel Sharon, who did not mention Mr Arafat by name, referring to his death as "recent events", insisted he wanted peace with the Palestinians.
"Israel is a country that seeks peace and will continue its efforts to reach a peace deal with the Palestinians without delay," said Mr Sharon.
Palestinians have begun 40 days of mourning for their lost leader. In Ramallah and other areas of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, tensions were high last night, with the authorities fearing that emotions could spill out of control today.
The formal farewell to Mr Arafat will begin in Cairo at 9 a.m. Irish time with a military funeral procession expected to start at a mosque on the edge of the sprawling Egyptian capital.