2005 Photo Contest, General News, 2nd prize
Photographer

Paolo Pellegrin

Magnum Photos for Vanity Fair

13 November, 2004

Tens of thousands of Palestinians converge on the Muqata compound in Ramallah for the burial of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat (75), who died in a military hospital in Paris on 11 November, even though the Israeli army has closed off other towns in the West Bank and prevents people traveling from the Gaza Strip. Mourners climbed on to the few high structures in the compound to get first glimpse of the helicopter that arrived bearing his body, and crowds swarmed the landing pad. Arafat's coffin was placed in a concrete and marble tomb, into which officials poured soil from Jerusalem. The Palestinian leader had said that he wished to be laid to rest in the ancient city, but permission had been refused. After the burial, mourners chanted and fired guns in the air in tribute.

About the photographer

Paolo Pellegrin

Paolo Pellegrin was born in 1964 in Rome, Italy. He studied architecture at Sapienza Università di Roma, before moving on to photography at the Istituto Italiano di Fotografia, a...

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