that Lebanon has ever witnessed by then. His body was transferred from Jordan to Syria then Lebanon, passing through several villages along the way. Schools were closed in his honor, and even in Christian villages such as the Maronite village of Kahaleh, people came out 'to honour the martyr who died for a noble cause.' Despite the sectarian tensions between Lebanon's diverse ethnic groups, this Maronite village publicly mourned al-Jamal while church bells in the village tolled. In Beirut, the Lebanese national forces decided to start the funeral from the Omari Mosque and the coffin was carried to the martyrs cemetery. Al Jamal's death was significant because of many factors. As the first Lebanese to die in battle with Israel, this ignited the drive of other Lebanese to join the Palestinian struggle, hundreds of whom went to Syria to undergo military training in May 1968. In this way, his death provided a political opening for the Palestinian fedayeen movement in Lebanon. Prime Minister Abdullah al-Yafi, who attended his funeral along with other political leaders such as the head of the Kataeb Pierre Gemayel, awarded al-Jamal a national medal posthumously. The Lebanese Army also offered military training to Palestinian refugees, and the often hostile Deuxième Bureau, Lebanon's intelligence service, eased restrictions placed on the residents of the Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon. However, the sympathy for the Palestinians from the government did not last and within a year of al-Jamal's death, under President Charles Helou, the Deuxième Bureau was again charged with maintaining a strict regime within the refugee camps. Notes References External links Raji Al Nami talks about the PLO experience in Lebanon: the Lebanese people fever PLO fighters in their initial battles The Palestinians and Lebanon - McGill University Glimpses of the light of a martyr of Beirut and the Arab, Khalil Ezzeddine El Jamal, Al-Mustaqbal newspaper, 5 May 2010 - number 3643. Lebanese military personnel 1951 births 1968 deaths Military personnel killed in action