None of today's heroes, let alone Arafat's enemies, can dream of such a dignified farewell. It was overwhelming. This is enough proof of what Arafat was to his people. He may be everything imperialists and their slaves call him. He may be everything what every constructive criticism says he is. But today, Palestinian people spoke for themselves. Palestinians would have set a world record today, if they were allowed to go to Ramallah from Gaza Strip, Jerusalem, four neighbouring Arab countries where refugees live, and other parts of West Bank. It would have been a million man burial.
I am happy to see how Bangladesh responded to this event. Government declared 3 days of mourning, and our flag will be lowered at half for these 3 days. All the political parties, left or right, paid their tribute. All the media have been truthful to their souls. All the mosques carried out special prayers for Arafat after Jum'atul Bida. Some even carried out Gayibana Janaza (symbolic funeral). We have shown an unprecedented unity and it was Arafat and his cause that brought us together.
We were watching CNN and BBC (I must say CNN covered it better than BBC). It was great to see how Palestinian people received him. Authority's plans were foiled as they overwhelmingly lost control over the crowd. BBC's Martin Asser was right. It was really a people's burial. The world has not seen such emotions since Ayatollah Khomeni's death.