RAMALLAH, West Bank (AFP) - Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, the man who embodied his people`s struggle for independence for decades, died, plunging Palestinians into mourning but giving a glimmer of hope to Middle East peace.
Arafat, regarded by his foes as a terrorist and his people as a freedom fighter, began the journey to his final resting place in the city that has been his virtual prison for almost three years.
In a somber ceremony on the tarmac at the Villacoublay military airport outside Paris, Arafat`s wife Suha wept as his coffin -- draped in a Palestinian flag -- was placed in an official French plane.
The jet took off for Cairo, where world leaders will gather to honor the 75-year-old Arafat at an official funeral on Friday, and then to the West Bank city of Ramallah for burial.
The Palestinian leadership immediately moved to divide the spoils of Arafat`s power while in the occupied territories and refugee camps across the Middle East, Palestinians were in mourning after the death of the only leader most of them ever knew.
Thousands of his disconsolate supporters flooded on to the streets of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, chanting their honor of his memory.
News of the death was announced at daybreak by Tayeb Abdelrahim, the head of the Palestinian Authority leader`s office, outside the Muqataa.
"The Palestinian leadership mourns with our people, with the Arab nation, with the whole of humanity, (the loss of) the tutor, the leader, the son of Palestine, its symbol, the builder of its modern nationalism and the hero of its battle for freedom and independence," he said.
French medics said Arafat had passed away at 0230 GMT but refused to give an exact cause of death, saying that was information meant for his family only.
Arafat had been critically ill since being airlifted to France on October 29 from the Muqataa, where he had been kept under virtual house arrest by Israel for almost three years.
Palestinian officials said that his burial would take place in the Muqataa at around 1400 GMT Friday after a military funeral in Cairo. Heads of state expected to attend include Jordan`s King Abdullah II, Presidents Thabo Mbeki of South Africa and newly elected Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono of Indonesia.
US Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs William Burns will represent Washington at the funeral.
Although Arafat will not be buried in Jerusalem as he had hoped, Palestinian officials said he would be buried on soil brought into Ramallah from the holy city.
Born in 1929, the man who was probably the world`s best known guerrilla leader, almost never seen without his trademark chequered keffiyeh, or headdress, was regarded as a terrorist by some, a freedom fighter by others.
His death came almost 30 years to the day after he stood before the UN General Assembly, saying he came with "an olive branch and a freedom fighter`s gun," adding "do not let the olive branch fall from my hand."
He won the Nobel peace prize 10 years ago after signing the Oslo peace accords but the peace process collapsed four years ago with the launch of the Palestinian intifada, or uprising, against Israeli occupation.
Palestinian officials declared a 40-day official mourning period.
The Palestinian flag flew at half-mast at the Muqataa and television broadcast verses from the Koran, the Muslim tradition on the death of leading figures.
In line with the Basic Law, parliament speaker Rawhi Fattuh was installed as caretaker head of the Palestinian Authority for 60 days, by which time new elections must be held.
Former premier Mahmud Abbas was installed as head of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), while the PLO`s Tunis-based politburo chief Faruq Qaddumi was surprisingly named as head of the dominant Fatah faction. Prime minister Ahmed Qorei was to stay on as head of government.
At his swearing-in ceremony in parliament, Fattuh hailed Arafat as the "father of Palestinian nationalism -- the first fighter and a great martyr."
Prominent Palestinian MP Hanan Ashrawi said Arafat`s death would usher in a new era for the region but insisted it would not be the cue for an outbreak of chaos.
"It`s a transition for the whole region. It`s a passing of an era," she said. "He was not your ordinary leader. It will never be the same but nobody is going to fall apart. We will persist."
Amid fears that Arafat`s death could trigger an outbreak of violence, the Israeli army imposed a total security clampdown on the West Bank.
Reinforcements were deployed around towns and Jewish settlements in the West Bank while more police were put in place in east Jerusalem to head off any violence linked to Arafat`s death.
Fears of violence were underlined when the radical Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an armed offshoot of Arafat`s Fatah movement, urged its fighters to attack Israel to avenge the "assassination" by "Zionist Israel".
The leader of the Islamist movement Hamas, Khaled Meshaal, also pointed the finger at Israel and accused it of killing the peace process.
"I accuse Israel of having poisoned the blood of Abu Ammar," Meshaal told Al-Jazeera. He claimed doctors had been unable to detect the toxin.
"By killing Arafat today, Israel has killed the peace process. It has killed he who created with it this process," he said.
As Palestinians digested news of his death, several hundred people were allowed inside the Muqataa where a book of condolence had been opened.
"Where have you gone Abu Ammar (Arafat), why have you left us," wept 55-year-old Umm Ahmed as she sat inside the battered compound.
"We have lost our most valuable possession. He was our most dear leader."
Others marched through the streets of Ramallah, chanting: "With our soul, with our blood, we will support you Abu Ammar".
Thousands also took to the streets of Gaza, unleashing volleys of gunfire into the air and setting fire to tires, turning the air pitch black.
11/11/2004 - 17:45 GMT - AFP