50,000 at Mustafa's Funeral Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit source - Dave Muller More than 50 thousand mourners participated in Mustafas funeral RAMALLHA, AUGUST 28 (WAFA)--"We returned in order to resist." Thousands of Palestinians chanted these words which were on the Martyr Abu Ali Mustafa lips when he returned to the Home Land in 1999 after 32 years of exile. About 50 thousand Palestinians took up the streets of the West Bank City of Ramallah today to the funeral of the highest-ranking Palestinian slain in an 11 months-long Israeli occupation campaign of assassination crimes. "Abu Ali Mustafa, your blood will not be wasted!" shouted many in the crowd, using the name by which the leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine was widely known. The martyr Mustafa Zibri, was assassinated Monday in an Israeli occupation missile attack, as he sat working at his desk in his office in El Berih building. The mourners included several of the Palestinian Cabinet ministers, members of the Palestinian legislature, as well as high-ranking representatives of the Palestinian National and Islamic factions . The Martyr body, saluted by Palestinian police, was carried to the cemetery on a Palestinian military jeep. Mosque loudspeakers blared the Palestinian national anthem. The martyr 55-year-old widow, Khitam, had to be supported by two other women as she collapsed while standing over the body. Shops and businesses in Palestine were shuttered tight as merchants observed a commercial strike. The PNA declared three days of National mourning for the martyr Zibri. Abu Ali Mustafa, the assassinated Secretary General of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) leaves three daughters and two sons behind. He also leaves an outstanding heritage of Palestinian nationalism and struggle. Below is some information about the distinguished leader's life. Mustafa Ali Alali AL-Zibri, known as Abu Ali Mustafa was born in the town of Arraba in 1938. Since 1948, his father worked as a farmer in Arraba, Jenin after he was a Haifa railroad employee. He completed his elementary school in Arraba then moved in 1950 with his family to Jordan. He began his extensive journey since he was sixteen years old. Elected as Assistant Secretary General for the PFLP in 1969. Member of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization from 1987 - 1991. Member of the Palestinian Central Council. Member of the Palestinian National Council since 1968. Elected as the Secretary General of the PFLP in 2000. Returned to the homeland late September 1999. Participated in enforcing the Palestinian national unity and defending the status of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) as the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian People. ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: nyt@blythe.org ================================================================= nytmid-08.28.01-23:18:32-5545