RAMALLAH (AFP) - Yasser Arafat, the man who for decades embodied his people's struggle for independence, died, plunging Palestinians into mourning but giving a glimmer of hope for Middle East peace.
Arafat, long regarded by his foes as a terrorist but by his people as a freedom fighter, began the journey to his final resting place in the West Bank town that has been his virtual prison for almost three years.
Late Thursday, a French government plane carrying his body arrived in Cairo, the city where the veteran leader was born, where it was welcomed by a full military guard after a roughly four-hour flight.
Meanwhile, representatives from around the world were gathering to attend his funeral service on Friday.
In a somber ceremony at a military airport outside Paris, Arafat's wife Suha wept as his coffin, draped in a Palestinian flag, was placed on the plane.
In Cairo, she was received by Suzanne Mubarak, wife of Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak, and a number of Egyptian officials, as they watched the coffin being carried off the plane to a waiting hearse.
Following the funeral in Cairo, the body of Arafat, who died aged 75, will then be transported to the West Bank city of Ramallah for burial.
After news of Arafat's death broke before dawn, the Palestinian leadership immediately moved to divide the spoils of power. Former premier Mahmud Abbas was named as head of the Palestine Liberation Organisation and parliament speaker Rawhi Fattuh installed as caretaker head of the Palestinian Authority for 60 days.
Thousands of his disconsolate supporters flooded on to the streets of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, firing shots in the air, setting tires on fire and chanting in honor of the only leader most of them ever knew.
Palestinian officials declared a 40-day official mourning period.
"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," said Tayeb Abdelrahim, the head of the Palestinian Authority leader's office.
French doctors at the Percy military hospital said Arafat had died at 0230 GMT but refused to give an exact cause of death, saying that information was for his family only.
Arafat had been critically ill since being airlifted to France on October 29 from the Muqataa, where he was to be laid to rest at around 1400 GMT Friday.
Although Arafat will not be buried in Jerusalem as he had hoped, Palestinian officials said soil would be brought from the holy city, home to the Al-Aqsa mosque compound, the third holiest site in Islam.
At the battered Muqataa, final preparations were underway, with the grind of trucks and heavy earth-moving equipment rumbling through the night.
Born in 1929, the man who was probably the world's best known guerrilla leader was almost never seen without his trademark chequered keffiyeh, or headdress, and often dressed in military garb.
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."
Arafat won the Nobel peace prize 10 years ago after the Oslo accords but the peace process collapsed four years ago with the launch of the Palestinian intifada against Israeli occupation.
Instead of leading Palestinians to peace and prosperity, Arafat was criticised for heading a government riddled with corruption while his people lived in poverty.
In line with the Basic Law, the little known Fattuh was installed as caretaker head of the Palestinian Authority for 60 days, by which time new elections must be held.
While Abbas became new PLO chief, the movement'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.
Fattuh hailed Arafat as the "father of Palestinian nationalism -- the first fighter and a great martyr."
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."
Thousands marched through the streets of Ramallah, chanting: "With our soul, with our blood, we will support you Abu Ammar", while thousands more filled the streets of Gaza, turning the air pitch black with smoke from burning tires.
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 extra police were stationed in east Jerusalem.
Fears of violence were underlined when the radical Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an armed offshoot of Fatah, 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.
"I accuse Israel of having poisoned the blood of Abu Ammar," said Meshaal. "By killing Arafat today, Israel has killed the peace process."
But Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who considered Arafat the main obstacle to peace, said his death could mark a "historic turning point for the Middle East" and expressed willingness to return to the negotiating table.
"If a new, serious, responsible leadership should emerge at the end of the Arafat era, one that fulfills its commitments in accordance with the roadmap ... the conditions would be met to coordinate different options with this leadership, even to re-establish political negotiations with it," he said.
11/11/2004 - 22:51 GMT - AFP