Thousands of Palestinians mourned the loss of two of their leaders in a joint funeral Monday that was one of the largest Palestinian gatherings to be held in east Jerusalem in recent years.
The two men buried were Sheikh Sa’ad a-Din al-Alami, the mufti, or senior Moslem clergyman, of Jerusalem, and Anwar al-Khatib, who was governor of Jerusalem during the Jordanian regime.
Al-Alami, who was also the head of the Supreme Moslem Council, responsible for the religious affairs of all Moslems in the administered territories, died Saturday of a heart attack.
Al-Khatib, who continued to serve as the unofficial representative of King Hussein after Israel conquered Jerusalem in 1967, died Sunday.
The double funeral began with prayer services at the Al-Aksa mosque on the Temple Mount and was attended by some 1,500 worshippers, including representatives of the Christian community.
The two Palestinian leaders were buried in a special plot at the northern entrance to the Temple Mount, next to the grave of Anwar Nusseibeh, a former Jordanian defense minister.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
