Hundreds of Jerusalem Palestinians made the pilgrimage to Ramallah yesterday to greet their President, Mr Yasser Arafat, for the festival which ends the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.
To reach Ramallah they had to pass the main Israeli checkpoint north of Jerusalem on foot and carry on by taxi and mini-bus to the walled compound 15 minutes drive away. They sped through Ramallah's empty streets, past shops shuttered for the third and final day of the festival. Inside the vast reception hall were Jerusalemites from every background.
The Anglican bishop of Jerusalem, the Rt Rev Riah Abu al-Assal, in rose-coloured cassock, the Muslim mufti, Shaikh Ikrima Sabri, in turban and kaftan, and members of the leading Husseini, Dajani and Nusseibeh families were seated at the front of the hall near the stage.
The traditional reception line had been dispensed with; Mr Arafat would not be shaking hands with well-wishers as they filed in through one door and out the opposite one. This was a straightforward political rally.
My companion, Mrs Dyala Husseini, remarked as we settled onto chairs several rows back, "You see how many people are coming. They are here to show their support whether they agree with his policies or not. His mistakes and failings don't matter now. If they [the outside powers] tell us to hold a new election, we would all vote for him, just to say nobody can tell us who to choose as our president. See the passion boiling in this room."
Boys brandishing the yellow flags of the youth movement of Mr Arafat's Fateh wing took up defiant cheers to disprove the assertion by the Israeli Prime Minister, Mr Ariel Sharon, that Mr Arafat is "irrelevant". Little girls in their best dresses waited at the front to present "Abu Ammar", one of his nicknames, with bright bouquets of fresh flowers.
When he entered the hall from the back the throng surged around him, knocking aside his bodyguards, reaching out to touch his hand, his shoulder. He came through unscathed and confident, smiling, taking a hand or two as he passed familiar faces. A small child was borne up by his proud father to kiss the president. The cheerleaders chanted, "Abu Ammar, beloved of God". He was lifted by his elbows onto a box so he could be seen as he spoke.
He began by addressing "all the Christians and Muslims of the world", greeting them for their religious festivals and calling upon them not to forget the people of the Holy Land. Then he spoke to the beleaguered Palestinians of Jerusalem, urging them to be "steadfast" in the face of the challenges they face every day. "The people of Jerusalem will stay in Jerusalem until Judgment Day," he said.
"The Palestinian flag will be raised on all our mosques and churches . . . I hope next year we will all meet in Jerusalem on this day."
Mr Arafat withdrew from the multitude to welcome a group of 70 peace activists from Europe and the US who had spent the previous hour lying on the ground in front of Israeli tanks and armoured vehicles parked a few hundred meters from the presidency. They bore placards proclaiming: "Stop the occupation; the occupation kills." They were cheerful from their protest. Although one Israeli soldier had fired a shot into the air, there had been no violence.
Mr Arafat strode through the gathering shaking hands with each and every one and then spoke in English. When asked about the opposition of Hamas and Islamic Jihad to a truce with Israel, he stated: "We must respect our democracy . . . anyone can say his opinion but he must abide by the decisions of the leadership." In spite of his people's grim prospects, he was upbeat.
During his three-week stay in the area, the US envoy, Gen Anthony Zinni, brought together the US, Russia, the European Union and the UN with the aim of securing a ceasefire and a return to negotiations. Mr Arafat told us he hoped the "group of four" would "follow up" implementation of the agreements reached by the Palestinians and Israel.
Asked about Israel's response to his call for a ceasefire, he replied: "I am sorry to say that in spite of what I said in my speech, there has been military escalation" from the Israeli side. As I was leaving the compound, I met one of the two Palestinians involved in drafting of the 1993 Oslo accord, Mr Hassan Asfour. He observed as we shook hands, "The situation is worse than terrible."