Egypt announces three-day mourning for Arafat
11/11/2004 19:47
Egypt on Thursday announced a three- day morning for Palestinian leader
Yasser Arafat, who passed away earlier in the day at a French military
hospital. Egypt is expected to hold a short and official funeral service for
Arafat on Friday at the Cairo International Airport, where Arab and world
leaders will come and pay their last respects to the late Palestinian
leader. Arafat was born in Cairo in 1929, graduated from an engineering
school in the city, and forged close ties with the Egyptian government during
his struggle to win Palestinian independence. Egypt is also a major player in
the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, having signed a 1979 peace treaty with Israel
and often mediating between Palestinians and the Israeli government. Arafat,
75, died at 3:30 a.m. (0230 GMT) Thursday at the Percy military hospital in the
southwestern suburb of Paris, where he had been treated for a blood disorder
during the past two weeks.
Xinhua
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