Left: With tens of thousands of people turning out from Ramallah, Al-Bireh and surrounding villages to see Arafat speak in Ramallah, the atmosphere was electric. A billboard errected by the Municipality of Ramallah welcomed "the symbol Arafat" to the town.
We had already had two false alarms as to when Arafat would arrive, and it was a relief to see him finally make it. When his helicopter appeared in the sky the crowd went wild, reminiscient of the beginning of that scene at the R&R base in Apocalyspse Now.
It was almost impossible to take photographs because of the crowd squeeze. I made for a nearby roof, where I can see Arafat seemingly miles away up on top of the new district headquarters of the PA.
Above: With a large cortège of security men, and flanked by Yasser Abed Rabbo (pictured on right of right photo), then Palestinian Minister of Culture, Arafat spoke for about twenty minutes, interrupted by chanting supporters every time he articulated one of the Palestinian dreams.
"Palestine," he shouted, "is for all her sons. Today, we are making the history of the independent Palestinian state with holy Jerusalem as its capital."
The localisation of this speech required Arafat to mention all the names of the towns around Ramallah. The event hit new levels of bizarreness when Yasser Abed Rabbo's supposedly whispered prompting was also heard over the microphone, even to the point of prompting repeated phrases. I didn't record it, but this is what it sounded like:
Arafat: AND WE WILL CONTINUE THE STRUGGLE UNTIL WE SEE LIBERATION IN...I swear I am not making this up.
Abed Rabbo: Al-Bireh.
Arafat: AL-BIREH!
[Crowd cheers]
Abed Rabbo: Birzeit.
Arafat: BIRZEIT!
[Crowd cheers]
Abed Rabbo: Taybeh.
Arafat: TAYBEH!
[Crowd cheers]
Abed Rabbo: Until we reach Al-Quds.
Arafat: UNTIL WE REACH AL-QUDS!
[Crowd cheers]
Abed Rabbo: Al-Quds.
Arafat: AL-QUDS!
[Crowd cheers more]
Abed Rabbo: Al-Quds.
Arafat: AL-QUDS!
[Crowd cheers even more]
Abed Rabbo: Al-Quuuuds.
Arafat: AL-QUUUUDS!
[Crowd cheers wildly]
Right: One of the several women who arrived by ambulance at Ramallah hospital after being crushed in the crowd to see Arafat. With thousands of people in an enclosed area, the Palestinian police had a prime opportunity to demonstrate their lack of ability in the area of crowd control.
The police attempted to segregate men and women, causing a problem when the area set aside for women proved too small. Small children were crushed, women fainted, and one PA security man tried to throw me off a shed roof when I went to retrieve my camera from another photographer.
Photographers had naturally gravitated to the roof, the only place free from the jostling elbows of the crowd. The police spent two hours trying to keep journalists off the roof and then gave up and let anyone on. Some local journalists consequently failed to get pictures of Arafat and the ambulance service had a busy day.