The funeral held for Arafat in Cairo was in sharp contrast to the scenes in Ramallah. Though the crowds had been cleared to make space for the helicopter to land, once the chopper landed, it was quickly surrounded by the crowds and the coffin was only removed with some difficulty. I was almost expecting a repeat of the scenes at Ayatollah Khomeini's funeral when his body was manhandled by grievers, but luckily nothing of that sort happened.

Laloo Yadav and Sitaram Yechuri represented India at the funeral, BTW.