Arafat Leads Mourners in Cairo at Funeral Services for Older Brother

CAIRO — PLO chief Yasser Arafat led about 1,000 mourners Friday in a funeral procession for an older brother.

Mustafa Arafat, 62, a Cairo businessman, died of liver cancer Thursday at the Palestinian Red Crescent Hospital here, which is run by Fathy Arafat, another brother of the Palestine Liberation Organization leader.

Yasser Arafat, 57, flew to Cairo for the funeral from his headquarters in Tunisia.

Hundreds of uniformed police and plainclothes security men guarded the mosque in suburban Nasr City and the 500-yard procession route.

The coffin, carried by members of the Palestinian Red Crescent Society in white and blue uniforms, was draped in the red, black, white and green Palestinian flag. The Red Crescent is the Muslim equivalent of the Red Cross.

Yasser Arafat, wearing his customary fatigues and black and white checkered kaffiyeh, shook hands with mourners who offered condolences outside the mosque.

The PLO chairman is known to have two living brothers--Fathy, the hospital director, and Gamal, who represents the PLO in Yemen--and a sister in Cairo who is known by the nom de guerre Um al Mumeneen, “Mother of the Faithful.”

Officials said Arafat met after the service with Egyptian Foreign Minister Esmat Abdel Meguid about Palestinian unrest in the Israeli-occupied territories.