It's not something people like to talk about, but many Israelis feel superior when they see the way Palestinians mourn the dead who are victims of the intifada.

No matter how gruesome the wounds, the body is always displayed. The family's grief and dignity are often pushed aside by the funeral mob's need to turn the mourning into a spectacle for the cameras. The flag-draped bier is paraded through town as mourners chant for vengeance and shoot in the air. Funerals often usher in more violence.

But this behavior is no longer exclusively Palestinian.

Last week, the body of a Jewish settler was paraded through the streets, kidnapped twice and shuttled between Jerusalem, Hebron and an isolated Jewish outpost as rival settler groups fought over his burial place.

Thirty-four-year-old Nathaniel Ozeri was shot dead by a Palestinian as he sat with his family for dinner on January 17. The Ozeri family lives in an isolated settlement outside Hebron called Hill 26. It is the kind of remote settlement the previous defense minister declared illegal and the army says cannot be protected. Ozeri's four-year-old daughter and two friends were injured in the shooting.

Jewish law demands immediate burial except on Saturdays, the holy Sabbath, so Ozeri's funeral was set for Sunday morning. Several hundred mourners, including many radical elements of the settler movement, gathered on Hill 26.

Ozeri was a former member of the outlawed 'Kach' movement who contributed to a book,' Baruch the Hero', praising Baruch Goldstein for machine-gunning worshippers in a Hebron mosque in 1994.

During the funeral, mourners attacked neighboring Palestinian houses, as well as Israeli policemen and soldiers. Speakers eulogized the dead man by denouncing assassinated prime minister Yitzhak Rabin and calling for politicians who negotiated the Oslo Peace Accords to be put on trial.

Ozeri's father demanded his son's body buried in Jerusalem. The local Rabbi preferred a grave in Hebron's Jewish cemetery. The dead man's widow, backed by the more radical elements in the crowd, said it had been her late husband's wish to be buried on Hill 26.

So for five hours the body was rushed back and forth between Hebron and Hill 26. It was first carried to Hebron but then snatched by young settlers and dubbed 'Hilltop Youth' by the Israeli media, who rushed with Ozeri's body on a stretcher toward Hill 26 where friends were digging a grave.

More Palestinians were attacked along the way. Community leaders and police officers who tried to restore calm were pushed aside or trampled over as the prayer shawl covering the body slipped to reveal Ozeri's bearded face.

"I hope you will die and when it happens, scavengers were eat your bodies," a mourner shouted at police.

Traditional Jewish observances surrounding death and mourning usually focus on protecting the dignity of the deceased and comforting the mourners. For the deceased to be put on display is seen as a dishonor. Ancient Jewish sages felt that to place a body on display, would enable not only friends but also enemies to walk past and gaze mockingly at the body, a sign of disrespect for the dead.

Israel's Chief Rabbi Meir Lau condemned the scenes in Hebron, pointing out the family does not have any rights over the dead. "The duty is to bury him in the most effective, respectful way in a holy place, a cemetery according to Jewish law," he said.

As darkness fell on Sunday, police officers and Rabbis thought they had arranged a compromise; the body would be buried in Hebron's old Jewish cemetery. The cortege moved off once again but the vehicle containing the body suddenly sped toward Jerusalem. Word spread that the widow wanted to hold a protest with her husband's body outside the Prime Minister's office, but this was averted.

"We were forced to separate the activists from the family. As soon as the family was alone, they made the correct decision," said police officer Shahar Ayalon.

And so at 3am in steady rain and amid heavy security, 150 mourners accompanied Nathaniel Ozeri to finally rest in Hebron, a city which has seen precious little peace and quiet in recent years. Friends refused to make speeches with a megaphone – "So that the dogs who live around here won't rejoice at hearing us in our sorrow," said one.