Two hours ahead of her casket’s arrival in the Christian Quarter of the Old City in Jerusalem on Friday, local residents had begun to gather to join the funeral procession for Shireen Abu Akleh, the veteran Al Jazeera journalist killed early Wednesday in Jenin in the course of her work.
A few little cafes near the New Gate began closing down, their staff readying to join the stream of mourners, many clad fully or partly in black. A chalkboard outside one cafe, rather than today’s specials, hailed Shireen Abu Akleh, martyr of Palestine.
Posters of her image — some with Christian symbols, others superimposed on a scene showing the Dome of the Rock — were pasted on walls and shuttered storefronts.
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The crowds gradually swelled into the hundreds, and more, in the alleys of the Christian Quarter and out into the open plaza just inside Jaffa Gate — with more men in their late teens, twenties and thirties now.
Some were wearing T-shirts showing Abu Akleh’s face and a map of Palestine — as in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza. Others were wearing the currently disturbingly popular T-shirts showing an M16 rifle; whoever pulled the trigger, the bullet that killed Abu Akleh reportedly may have been fired by an M16.
In blazing early afternoon heat, some officials from the Greek Melkite Church gave out bottles of water. A circular wreath appeared and was held up high. Then one in the shape of the cross.
