Palestinians on Thursday marked the 18th anniversary of the death of Yasser Arafat, the first president of Palestine and chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), with a rally and march through the streets of Ramallah that ended at the site of his grave, the official Palestinian news agency WAFA reported.

West Bank schools dedicated time to talking about the biography of the late president and his role in reviving the Palestinian cause at the international level.

In the besieged Gaza Strip, hundreds of Palestinians attended a central rally at the Yasser Arafat Square in al-Rimal neighborhood, west of Gaza.

On November 11, 2004, Arafat died at a French hospital where he was flown to after suffering from a sudden illness following a tight and brutal Israeli military siege of the presidential headquarters in Ramallah.

On the 18th anniversary of Arafat’s death, a former Palestinian Authority minister has claimed that there has been no real investigation into the death. Jawad Al-Tibi made his comments in an interview with Al-Resalah following reports that fourteen cubic meters of concrete were poured into Arafat’s tomb in Ramallah.

(WAFA, PC, SOCIAL)