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DEATH OF A KING: THE OVERVIEW

DEATH OF A KING: THE OVERVIEW; Jordan's Hussein Laid to Rest as World Leaders Mourn

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February 9, 1999, Section A, Page 1Buy Reprints
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United in loss and grief, an extraordinary array of presidents, prime ministers and princes gathered here today to accompany King Hussein on his final journey, as his body was buried in a humble white shroud.

The mourners included Jordan's allies and enemies and some who remain one another's bitter foes, including the leaders of Syria and Israel. That turnout paid tribute in death to a King who in life, during nearly a half-century's reign, sought to mend even the most rancorous of disputes.

''God make him among the people who rest in Paradise,'' an imam prayed at the graveside as Hussein's eldest son, the newly crowned King Abdullah, stood cloudy-eyed but ramrod straight.

In keeping with Muslim tradition, there were no eulogies, no songs and no speeches during the funeral ceremonies. The King's body was driven through the chilly streets of Amman today and then was borne on a military carriage to the grave. But even with few words, the spectacle was nonetheless remarkable.

In some ways the scene was an eerie echo of Jan. 19, the day King Hussein returned to Jordan after six months of cancer treatment in the United States. He pronounced himself ''fully recovered'' then, and Jordanians lined the streets and slaughtered sheep to welcome him home.

Today the crowds were about the same size -- hundreds of thousands of people. But this time they were pouring out their sorrow, and instead of banners they clutched black flags of mourning. Those who succeeded in surging through police lines to chase after the motorcade could hope not to touch a King, but his coffin.

In the courtyard of Raghadan Palace, so many leaders -- representing 75 countries -- came to pay respects that they ended up shoulder to shoulder, dark suits abutting Arab robes.

Inside, where the King lay in state surrounded by four Circassian guards, the leaders entered the room one by one to pause before his coffin -- Muslims, Christians, and Jews, each according to his traditions.

The dignitaries included President Clinton and three former American Presidents, who inclined their heads in prayer; Yasir Arafat, the Palestinian leader, who bade farewell with a slow bow and a military salute, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, whose delegation included a top Israeli rabbi.

There were surprise guests -- President Boris N. Yeltsin of Russia, frail and seemingly disoriented, having left his own sickbed for the occasion, and President Hafez al-Assad of Syria, a critic of Jordan's peace with Israel who had never before attended an event at which Israeli officials were present.

There was no sign today that Mr. Assad's attendance marked a new approach to Middle East peace negotiations. He seemed determined to avoid contact with the Israelis, and even chose not to join the others who followed in a foot procession as King Hussein's body was carried from the palace to the strains of bagpipes played by Arab Legionnaires and followed by a riderless stallion.

But even as so many others bade farewell to the King, Mr. Assad did seem intent on making a personal peace. As he stood before the coffin, he held out his palms and whispered words of prayer, and then raised his hands to his face in a pious Muslim gesture of mourning.

Mr. Netanyahu said later, ''We all admired him deeply.'' The Prime Minister's country fought wars with Jordan in 1948 and 1967 before making peace in 1994.

Arab Muslim tradition calls for funerals to be segregated by sex. So for most of the day the King's widow, Queen Noor; his sister, Princess Basma, and his six daughters, by four wives, were nowhere in sight. They were seen only as the day began, at the door of the family home, Beb al Salam, wearing white headscarves of mourning.

King Abdullah, accompanied by Crown Prince Hamzah and his three other brothers, bade the women farewell and left for the proceedings, each wearing a dark suit and a bright red checked kaffiyeh.

From the streets to the palaces, the gestures were of gratitude and respect for King Hussein, whose long service and commitment to peace may have made him better known than the small country he ruled for more than 46 years. Many people also offered their hands in support to King Abdullah, who is just 37 and may well have a difficult time stepping into his father's shoes.

Saudi Arabia, which after the Persian Gulf war in 1991 turned a cold shoulder to Jordan as punishment for its tilt toward Iraq, was represented by Crown Prince Abdullah, who is effectively the country's leader because of King Fahd's ill health.

The Saudi Prince suggested that future ties would be warmer. ''Jordan has always been dear to us,'' he said, ''and now Jordan will be dearer and dearer.''

For 90 minutes after the funeral, the new King and his brothers, including Jordan's new Crown Prince, Hamzah, stood to accept handshakes and kisses from visitors who represented all manner of political stripes.

They ranged from Prince Charles, the buttoned-down heir to the British throne, to Omar Hassan al-Bashir, the turban-clad President of Sudan, a country ostracized by the West for supporting groups regarded as terrorist and the target last summer of an American cruise missile attack.

Not since the funeral of the slain Israeli Prime Minister, Yitzhak Rabin, in November 1995 has the world seen a gathering of leaders that approached today's, either in diversity or emotion.

The guests included Khaled Meshal, a leader of the militant Islamic group Hamas who was the target of an assassination attempt in Amman in 1997, and Efraim Halevy, director of the Israeli intelligence service Mossad, the agency that carried out the bungled attack.

An Iraqi Vice President, Taha Mohieddin Maruf, was welcomed to Jordan even though his country's leader, President Saddam Hussein, lashed out last month at those he called ''throne dwarfs'' -- interpreted here as a reference to King Hussein's short stature.

The Israeli delegation spanned a spectrum so wide that though its members were united for a day in admiration of King Hussein, most gave the impression that they would have preferred not to be in the same room.

The group included Ehud Barak, the Labor Party leader, who is Mr. Netanyahu's chief rival for Prime Minister in elections that are to take place in May; Yitzhak Mordechai, who until last month was Mr. Netanyahu's Defense Minister and is now another election rival, and two former Prime Ministers, Shimon Peres and Yitzhak Shamir, who in the world of Israeli politics occupy different poles.

From the United States, the delegation headed by Mr. Clinton included former Presidents George Bush, Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford -- a group that had ties of varying warmth with King Hussein. It was a bipartisan tribute to the King, whose political and financial ties to the United States began decades ago and who in his final years became a trusted ally of the United States.

Mr. Clinton was said by aides to have exchanged greetings with a number of leaders, including Mr. Assad, Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain, President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt and the representatives of Turkey, Kuwait and many other countries.

But the Americans kept a pointed distance from the Iraqi Vice President, as well as another guest -- Seif el-Islam, the son of the Libyan leader, Muammar al-Qaddafi. He had to fly to Jordan from Tunisia because United Nations sanctions bar flights to and from his country.

Mr. Yeltsin, the ailing 68-year-old Russian leader, has visited the Kremlin only three times since this year began. His decision to travel to Jordan, reportedly against the advice of his doctors, left many among the delegations taken aback.

Russia, along with the United States, was among the sponsors of a Middle East peace conference in Madrid in 1991, a fact that Mr. Yeltsin may have hoped to impress again on other world leaders.

But Mr. Yeltsin could barely take a step without someone holding his arm, and at one point he seemed not to know where he was. He left the palace after paying his respects and did not stay for the funeral itself.

If the scene on the street was sometimes frenzied, the one inside the palace grounds was elegant in its simplicity. From the palace, the scene of the last respects, the King's body was carried 300 yards to the royal mosque for prayers.

Afterward, the body was moved to a place among the Hashemite family graves adjoining the tombs of the King's grandfather, King Abdullah, and father, King Talal.

The body had already been washed in accord with Islamic practice, scented with musk and wrapped in the white shroud. It was removed from the coffin and slowly lowered into the ground.

The new King Abdullah stood in silent tribute to his father for three minutes before flagstones were lowered over the grave, the Last Post was sounded and Bedouin guards fired a 15-gun salute.

A version of this article appears in print on  , Section A, Page 1 of the National edition with the headline: DEATH OF A KING: THE OVERVIEW; Jordan's Hussein Laid to Rest as World Leaders Mourn. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

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