CAIRO, Egypt. Tears and gunshots, praise and condemnation marked the death of Yasser Arafat, whose fight for the Palestinian cause made him a towering and controversial figure on the world stage.

Arafat’s death at a Paris hospital, long expected after he flew to France for treatment of a mysterious illness late last month and soon after fell into a coma, was announced about 6 a.m. in the Middle East.

“Mr. Yasser Arafat, president of the Palestinian Authority, has died at the Percy Military Training Hospital in Clamart on Nov. 11, 2004, at 3:30,” spokesman Gen. Christian Estripeau told reporters in a brief statement.

Estripeau then told reporters that Arafat’s body would be leaving the hospital, but that—because of French privacy laws—no details would be given on the cause of death or anything else.

Arafat, 75, was flown to Paris on Oct. 29 for treatment of an undisclosed illness. He fell into a coma a week later and was put on a life support machine.

His health steadily deteriorated and he suffered some brain damage due to hemorrhage. Only his heart and lungs were still functioning, Palestinian officials said Wednesday.

No diagnosis was made public.

French President Jacques Chirac said in a statement that he had learned of Arafat’s death “with emotion” and that France would continue to press “with conviction” for an independent Palestinian state alongside that of Israel.

“With him disappears the man of courage and conviction who, for 40 years, has incarnated the Palestinians’ combat for recognition of their national rights,” Chirac said.

“To the Palestinian people, I want to express at this moment of mourning the friendship of France and the French people.”

“May the loss that they have just suffered unite the Palestinians.”

During his final hours, a top Islamic cleric, Tayssir Bayoud Tamimi, sat at Arafat’s bedside reading passages from the Qur’an.

For two weeks, supporters had held vigils day and night outside his hospital surrounded by candles, flags and pictures of their leader.

Arafat, who led the Palestinians for four decades, will be buried at his Ramallah compound in the West Bank, known as the Muqataa.

His spokesman, Nabil Abu Rdeneh, said late Wednesday that a funeral would be held today in Cairo to make it easier for foreign dignitaries to attend. He flew to the Egyptian capital to begin preparations.

Burying Arafat in Ramallah defuses a potential conflict with Israel. Palestinian officials initially insisted Arafat be buried in Jerusalem, which Israeli officials flatly rejected. The last image the world saw of Arafat alive was paramedics wheeling him, lying covered with blankets, in a stretcher from a rooftop helipad into the hospital outside Paris. His wife, Suha, was at his side.

Meanwhile, in the teeming refugee camps of Ein El-Hilweh and Mieh Mieh near the southern Lebanese city of Sidon, burning tires spewed heavy black smoke and guerrillas fired into the air, rites of mourning that expressed frustration as well as sadness.

Houses on Ein El-Hilweh’s streets and alleys were bedecked with Arafat’s pictures, Palestinian flags and black banners. Arafat has strong loyalties in the camp, but also fierce rivals. Ein El-Hilweh, known for its lawlessness, is home to about 75,000 Palestinian refugees and their descendants who were displaced by war since the 1948 creation of Israel, and who had pinned hopes on Arafat’s promises he would lead them home.

At Cairo University, the campus where Arafat earned an engineering degree decades ago, one student was moved to tears.

“Every leader has both mistakes and accomplishments,” said 19-year-old Nadia, who gave only her first name. “I think he was a very kind person. His people loved him very much.”

Egypt, which was to give Arafat a state funeral today, Yemen and Jordan announced three days’ mourning. State-run Jordan radio and television replaced regular programming with recitations of Qur’anic versus interrupted only by hourly news bulletins.

“We have known him as a defender of right and a struggler against occupation, and striving toward peace,” Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said of Arafat as he opened a session of Parliament.

Plaudits came from as far away as China, where President Hu Jintao said Arafat was “an outstanding leader of the Palestinian cause.”

Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi praised Arafat’s efforts on behalf of peace and his people, citing his signing of the 1993 Israel-PLO accord that gave him control of most of Gaza Strip and 27 percent of West Bank.

“Yasser Arafat spent his entire life for the Palestinian cause. We pray that his mission is completed after his death,” Pakistani Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said from Saudi Arabia, where he was performing the Muslim pilgrimage.

German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder credited Arafat with striving to lead the Palestinians to independence, regretting that “it was not granted to Yasser Arafat to complete his life’s work.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin said the Palestinians had suffered a heavy loss, and his Foreign Ministry called for the international community, Israel and the Palestinians to redouble peace efforts.

French President Jacques Chirac, who had visited Arafat days before his death, called him a “man of courage and conviction who, for 40 years, has incarnated the Palestinians’ combat for recognition of their national rights.”

Praise also came from the European Union, the Arab League and UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who said Arafat had “expressed and symbolized in his person the national aspirations of the Palestinian people.”

Even Arafat’s critics acknowledged his death was “a significant moment in Palestinian history,” as US President George W. Bush put it. Bush, who had accused Arafat of blocking peace with Israel, expressed condolences to the Palestinian people.

“We hope that the future will bring peace and the fulfillment of their aspirations for an independent, democratic Palestine that is at peace with its neighbors,” added Bush, the first US president to publicly call for an independent Palestinian state.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair, expressing his condolences to Arafat’s family and to the Palestinian people and noting that Arafat was a Nobel Peace laureate, also looked ahead.

The “goal of a viable Palestinian state alongside a secure Israel is one that we must continue to work tirelessly to achieve,” Blair said in a statement read by a spokeswoman.

Cairo’s normally hectic streets were quiet when the news first broke, but taxi driver Mahmoud Ibrahim was at work, driving through the early morning haze.

“Another Abdel Nasser has died,” Ibrahim said, comparing the Palestinian leader to the nationalist embraced by all Arabs who was Egypt’s president from 1956 until his death in 1970.

The Palestinian parliament speaker was sworn in as temporary president of the Palestinian Authority yesterday, assuming one of Yasser Arafat’s three top jobs.

The speaker, Rauhi Fattouh, a virtual unknown, took the oath of office in at a special Parliament session. Under the law, he is to be caretaker president for up to 60 days, until elections are held.

“I swear by God to protect the nation, the homeland and its sacred places and respect the law and take care of the interests of the people,” Fattouh said.

The new president, his voice breaking with emotion, pledged to the Palestinian people to “follow the same path the Arafat walked.”

Fattouh also said he wanted to assure the international community that the new Palestinian leadership was committed to “a fair and just peace.”

Palestinians will observe 40 days of mourning for Arafat, the Palestinian Cabinet decided yesterday. During the first week, all schools and government offices will be closed.