Israelis, world figures and dignitaries including US First Lady Hillary Clinton will bid farewell Wednesday to Leah Rabin, who until her death carried the torch of peace lit by her slain husband prime minister Yitzak Rabin.
Leah Rabin, who died on Sunday of lung cancer at the age of 72, will be laid to rest at her husband's side at a Jerusalem cemetery where Israeli leaders are buried.
Hillary Clinton will join Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and a host of foreign dignitaries at the funeral.
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, who shared the 1994 Nobel Peace Prize with Rabin and former prime minister Shimon Peres, has been shunned from the funeral and discouraged from paying a condolence visit to the Rabin family, amid an explosion of violence on the West Bank and Gaza Strip that has gutted the peace process.
Arafat told reporters in Gaza he had sent his condolences to the family.
"She was the wife of my partner Yitzhak Rabin and at the same time one of the most important personalities who used to defend and push forward the peace process. We lost her as we have lost my partner Yitzhak Rabin," he said.
Barak is against any participation by Arafat because he holds the Palestinian leader personally responsible for bloodshed that has left some 220 dead in the last seven weeks.
On Monday, four Israelis were killed by Palestinians gunmen in drive-by shootings. But the large majority of victims since the latest Intifada, or uprising, that broke out on September 28 have been Palestinians.
Leah Rabin's funeral is being held on the 12th anniversary of the symbolic declaration of Palestinian independence Arafat made in Algiers.
His Fateh political and militia movement has called on Palestinians in Israeli-occupied territories to "implement popular sovereignty on the land of Palestine" on Wednesday, sending a chill through Israel. But a government spokesman ruled out any special security measures being taken for Rabin's funeral in light of the call.
The fiery widow was known for her visceral dedication to carrying on the legacy of her husband, who was assassinated by a Jewish extremist on November 4, 1995 for his peace policies.
Rabin's coffin will be on display for several hours Wednesday morning at the Tel Aviv square where the prime minister was shot during the 1995 peace rally.
It will then be transported by ambulance to Jerusalem, where she will be laid to rest next to Rabin at the Mount Herzl cemetery reserved for the "nation's great," a government committee assisting funeral arrangements said.
The funeral will be "family-style" rather than a state event, the committee said.
Others expected to attend the event include Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov and Germany's President Johannes Rau.
Rau, in a statement after her death, said Leah Rabin "had given the German people the greatest gift of all -- her friendship -- without ever forgetting the tragedy that had befallen the Jewish people in Germany."
Born in what was then Koenigsberg, Germany, now Kaliningrad in Russia, Leah Schlossberg emigrated to Palestine in 1933, the year of the Nazis' rise to power.
Also expected to arrive are top US Middle East peace envoys Dennis Ross and Aaron Miller, who will be travelling with Hillary Clinton.
Winnie Madikizela Mandela, the ex-wife of former South African president Nelson Mandela, is also expected to attend the funeral during a week-long private visit to Israel – JERUSALEM (AFP)
© 2000 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
