Even in Death, Hussein Provides Hope for Peace

They filed past King Hussein’s flag-shrouded coffin in remarkable homage Monday, many of them sworn enemies who until recently were bent on mutual destruction.

Presidents and kings, muftis and sultans, generals and spies paused to pray for the Middle East’s longest-serving ruler and to salute Jordan’s new monarch, Abdullah II, on the first full day of his reign.

Even in death, Hussein commanded an unprecedented assembly of world leaders--some appearing together in public for the first time--who put aside their grievances to share in a moment of grief.

In a funeral steeped in ancient Islamic tradition and royal ritual, Hussein was laid to rest in the Hashemite dynasty cemetery near Raghadan Palace. His body, wrapped in a simple white cloth in keeping with Muslim custom, was lifted from its casket and placed in the ground under a wide green canopy. Abdullah and his four brothers, Princes Faisal, Ali, Hamzeh and Hashem, watched silently from the graveside.

A rifle-and-cannon salute punctuated the wailing prayers chanted by a Muslim cleric, Sheik Ahmad Hlelial, who dispatched Hussein to “peace and paradise.”

Outside the palace compound, Jordanians continued venting their anguish over Hussein’s death from cancer on Sunday at age 63. Tens of thousands of students, Bedouin villagers and professionals lined the streets of Amman to watch the funeral cortege make its way from Bab al Salam Palace, where the late king lived, to the burial site of the man who ruled Jordan for 47 years. Many people hurled themselves into the path of the motorcade or ran alongside.

Once the cortege pulled onto the palace grounds, soldiers in red-and-white kaffiyehs hoisted the casket into the Raghadan throne room, positioning it to face Mecca, and the procession of foreign delegations paying their respects began. An ailing Russian President Boris N. Yeltsin, barely able to move, made a brief tribute before leaving abruptly and returning home.

In true Middle Eastern style, mourners--who included the likes of President Clinton and Britain’s Prince Charles--had to stand around and wait outside the palace and jostle to get inside the doors.

Hundreds of dignitaries then followed Hussein’s casket to the cemetery, walking the half-mile distance shoulder to shoulder behind a bagpipe-and-drum honor guard.

Because women are excluded from funerals under Islam, Queen Noor, Hussein’s American-born wife, was not allowed to attend. She could be seen watching her husband’s coffin being removed from Bab al Salam early Monday, where she huddled in a doorway, dressed in black with a white scarf covering her head. Later, in a separate, private reception, she received guests, including Clinton and Hillary Rodham Clinton.

By any standard, the collection of leaders gathered in honor of a peacemaker was extraordinary. But it was the past--in some cases, years of hostility--shared by some of those in attendance that made Monday’s solemn, dignified funeral all the more stunning. The turbulent history of the Middle East, which Hussein had managed to navigate despite serious political errors, seemed to march through the Raghadan Palace throne room where he lay in state.

“It was really a beautiful sight,” Clinton said later. “People coming from all around the world, countries that are at each other’s throat, here meeting in peace and friendship and the sanctity of the umbrella of this great man.”

The leader whose last-minute decision to attend caused perhaps the greatest stir was President Hafez Assad of Syria, whose relations with Hussein never recovered from Jordan’s decision to pursue peace with Israel over Assad’s vehement opposition.

Ailing at age 68, the hard-line Syrian leader paused for a long moment before Hussein’s casket, his hands uplifted in prayer. Just outside the chandeliered room, Assad spoke briefly with Clinton.

“President Assad, I’m glad you’re here,” Clinton said to Assad, according to White House National Security Advisor Samuel R. “Sandy” Berger. “I hope you’ll help Jordan.”

Assad probably took care to avoid direct contact with the large Israeli delegation, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. But no one could miss the fact that the Syrians and the Israelis, implacable foes, were within yards of one another.

Also present at the funeral was Khaled Meshaal, a leader of the Amman branch of the militant Islamic movement Hamas, whom Israeli Mossad agents tried to poison in 1997. Another nearby mourner: Mossad chief Efraim Halevy.

Israel’s hawkish Foreign Minister Ariel Sharon paid his respects; separately, so did Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, with an elaborate click of the heels and military salute. Former Israeli Defense Minister Yitzhak Mordechai saluted the new king and then turned and saluted the Jordanian army commanders who were also present.

Jordan fought two wars against Israel and lost the West Bank and Jerusalem to the Jewish state in 1967. The Palestinians have fought both the Jordanians and the Israelis.

Israel’s chief Ashkenazi rabbi, Yisrael Meir Lau, was also among the mourners, joining Islamic imams, Franciscan friars and Orthodox priests. Writing in an Israeli newspaper before he arrived, he captured the spirit that Hussein engendered: “Our sages used to say, ‘Who is a hero of heroes? He who makes his enemy into his beloved.’ ”

Persian Gulf Arab states such as Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, who broke with Hussein over his support of Iraq in the 1991 Gulf War, also sent high-level delegations, in a sign that they are ready to renew ties.

Clinton, working to bolster the Middle East peace process, which has been on hold since Israelis accused Palestinians of failing to fulfill their commitments, held brief conversations with Netanyahu, Arafat and other regional leaders. No breakthroughs were noted.

But speculation was intense about Assad’s motives for attending a gathering that he knew would include Israeli hard-liners. A likely explanation was that Assad, who missed a chance to regain the Golan Heights and make peace with the previous Israeli government before Netanyahu’s election in 1996, made a tactical decision to attend to signal his openness to resuming the long-paralyzed Syrian-Israeli negotiations.

With Netanyahu in a tough campaign for reelection May 17, the aging Syrian leader may be hoping that a different Israeli government will be elected, improving his chances of regaining the Golan, which was captured by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War.

Perhaps Jordan’s peacemaking monarch would have been particularly pleased, however, with a brief encounter that occurred away from the many news photographers.

The leader of a radical Palestinian faction that has rejected Palestinian peace deals with the Jewish state approached Israeli President Ezer Weizman as the two men waited at the palace.

Nayef Hawatmeh, the leader of the Damascus-based Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, shook hands with Weizman, a maverick politician who has been a strong supporter of the peace process. Hawatmeh, whose guerrillas seized a school in 1974 in an attack that led to the deaths of 24 Israelis, called Weizman a “man of peace,” according to aides for both men.

The Israeli president was receptive, telling Hawatmeh that he hoped Syria and Lebanon will soon reenter peace talks with Israel.

Clinton also used his 12-hour stay in the Jordanian capital to meet with 37-year-old Abdullah.

U.S. officials have been keen to advocate “continuity” in Jordanian policies, particularly the quest for peace.

Hussein’s eldest son “exuded the quiet, humble confidence that I saw so often in his father,” Clinton said, adding: “I have great confidence in the young king of Jordan. He clearly understands his mission.”

Times staff writers Sam Fulwood III in Amman and Marjorie Miller in Jerusalem contributed to this report.

* LOSS OF A BENEFACTOR: King inspired intense loyalty in his people because he was accessible to so many. A13