Arafat Assails Syrians at Funeral of Aide

Palestine Liberation Organization Chairman Yasser Arafat climbed atop a cemetery wall Monday and told 2,500 people gathered at the funeral of a slain Palestinian leader that Syria is behind plots against the PLO.

“I tell the Arab Zionists that they cannot stop our revolution,” Arafat said through a loudspeaker at the cemetery where the body of Fahd Kawasmeh was buried. Kawasmeh was assassinated here Saturday by assailants using pistols with silencers. Arafat has accused Syria of being behind the slaying.

“The rulers of Damascus represent the Arab Zionists. . . . (They are) the source of plots planned by Israel,” Arafat said.

‘Policies of Zionism’

Arafat, who has been fighting a rebellion in PLO ranks by Syrian-supported Palestinians, accused Syria of “implementing the policies of Zionism and of America.” He did not elaborate.

As he spoke, the crowd chanted, “Revolution until victory!”

An estimated 5,000 people, chanting “Allahu akbar!” (God is great), turned out for funeral prayers at the University of Jordan mosque in Amman’s outskirts. About 2,500 people gathered at the cemetery for the burial.

Arafat marched behind the coffin in a procession that wound through the streets of Amman to the mosque where prayers were offered.

A flower-draped jeep carried Kawasmeh’s coffin, bearing portraits of the former mayor of the West Bank city of Hebron who was a member of the PLO’s executive committee.

Jordan’s King Hussein sent his cousin, Prince Raad, to represent him at the prayers. Prime Minister Ahmed Obeidat and Foreign Minister Taher Masri also attended.

Spectators and Jordanian army sharpshooters stood on rooftops as the body was taken by motorcade to the cemetery.

An anonymous telephone caller told the French news agency that the assassination of Kawasmeh was carried out by Black September, a radical Palestinian group that was most active in the early 1970s. However, a statement issued by Arafat’s mainstream PLO group, Fatah, accused Syria of masterminding the assassination and vowed revenge.

Kawasmeh was elected to the PLO executive committee in November during a meeting of the Palestine National Council in Amman.

Israel expelled Kawasmeh from the occupied West Bank in 1980 after gunmen killed several Israelis in Hebron. He had lived in Amman for the last four years and was considered a moderate who favored a joint PLO-Jordanian effort to solve the Arab-Israeli conflict.

Hebron Request

PLO officials said it was decided to bury Kawasmeh in Amman and not Hebron, his hometown, because Israel’s response to a request for burial in Hebron remained in doubt. Israeli officials had been considering the request.

A general strike was reported Monday in Hebron. The Jerusalem-based Palestine Press Service said schools and shops in Hebron were closed.

The Palestinian-run news agency said Israeli authorities blocked two West Bank village leaders from crossing into Jordan to attend the funeral. Israeli military sources in Tel Aviv said they could not confirm the report.