December 27, 2003	Saturday	Ziqa’ad 3, 1424

JABALIYA, Dec 26: Some 20,000 Palestinians took to the streets of this northern Gaza Strip refugee camp on Friday to attend the funeral of the Islamic Jihad chief slain in an Israeli air strike the previous day.

The funeral cortege set off from the impoverished camp after Zuhr prayers heading for a nearby cemetery where Moqled Hamid, 38, was to be buried.

Hundreds of fighters from the military wings of Islamic Jihad and Hamas marched through the camp’s narrow alleyways. Some of them were masked.

“Dear Moqled, reprisals will hit Tel Aviv,” chanted the marchers. “Revenge, revenge,” they shouted, brandishing black Islamic Jihad or green Hamas flags.

“This massive attendance is a plebiscite for the resistance,” said Islamic Jihad political leader Khaled al Batsh.

“Moqled was a big chief but his martyrdom will not impact the resistance which will, on the contrary, increase.”

Hamid and another Islamic Jihad leader were killed in an Israeli helicopter gunship attack on their cars on Thursday along with three civilians. —AFP