Palestinians overcome by grief

IN towns and refugee camps across the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip, tens of thousands of Palestinians poured into the streets with wails of grief and volleys of gunfire after the death of Yasser Arafat.

“Our father is dead,” construction worker Fathi Abu Adnan said in Gaza City, where youths burned tyres, sending up plumes of black smoke as Koranic verses blared from loudspeakers.

Some mourners bore portraits of Mr Arafat, for decades one of the world’s most recognizable leaders. Short and balding, his stubbled face framed by a checkered black-and-white head dress, he had usually appeared in public in military fatigues and with a pistol strapped to his waist.