Palestinians mourn group leader

RAMALLAH, West Bank -- An angry crowd of 50,000 mourners flocked to the funeral of Mustafa Zibri, the highest-ranking Palestinian slain in an Israeli campaign of targeted killings, while demonstrators called for revenge in protests across the West Bank and Gaza Strip on Tuesday. \nMasked pallbearers bore the body of Zibri -- widely known as Abu Ali Mustafa -- through the streets of the West Bank town of Ramallah, while masked gunmen shot round after round of automatic-weapons fire into the air. \n"Abu Ali Mustafa, your blood will not be wasted!" mourners shouted. \nZibri, 63, was the leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a hard-line group opposed to Palestinian-Israeli peacemaking, and a longtime associate of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. Israeli said Zibri had a long record of involvement in terrorism. \nHe was killed Monday in an Israeli missile attack as he sat working at his desk in a Ramallah building about 200 yards from Arafat's West Bank headquarters. \nLeaders of Palestinian factions riven by rivalries in the past marched in the funeral procession. The mourners included several of Arafat's Cabinet ministers, members of the Palestinian legislature and high-ranking representatives of militant groups such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad. \nThe body, saluted by Palestinian police, was carried to the cemetery on a Palestinian military jeep. Mosque loudspeakers played the Palestinian anthem. Zibri's 55-year-old widow, Khitam, had to be supported by two women as she collapsed while standing over the body. \nArafat was at his Gaza Strip headquarters and attended neither the Ramallah burial nor a mock funeral held in Gaza City. Aides said he would spend much of the afternoon receiving condolence calls. \nAbout 4,000 mourners marched through Gaza City, shouting, "Revenge, revenge!" and condemning Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. \nIn the West Bank towns of Nablus, Jenin and Tulkarem, thousands of mourners paraded through the streets with mock coffins. "Israel will pay a great price for killing him," a masked gunman told the crowd in Jenin. \nShops and businesses in Palestinian areas were shuttered tight as merchants observed a commercial strike. Arafat declared three days of mourning for Zibri. \nPalestinian refugees in Syria, Jordan and Lebanon also mourned Zibri and staged demonstrations protesting his killing. \nSyria's largest Palestinian refugee camp, al-Yarmouk, ground to a standstill as thousands staged a one-day strike.\nThe Syrian government newspaper, Tishrin, denounced Zibri's killing, saying, "it unveils the terrorist trends, hostile intentions and expansionist plans of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon."\nSince fighting broke out last September, about 50 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks targeting suspected militants. Some of those killed were bystanders.