RABAT, Morocco -- King Hassan II, who help forge Mideast peace and ruled his North African country for 38 years, died Friday of a heart attack at age 70. He was succeeded by his son, Crown Prince Sidi Mohamed.
The new monarch, who announced his father's death on state television, described Hassan as "a great leader and one of this world's great men."Morocco's new leader, 35, will be known as King Mohamed VI. He is unmarried and has an interest in literature and art.
The government, senior military officials and religious officials all proclaimed their official recognition of the new king, state television said.
The announcement of Hassan's death brought hundreds of crying mourners to the royal palace in the center of the capital, Rabat, which began 40 days of official mourning. A Moroccan Television news announcer burst into tears while reading a statement about plans to bury the king next to his father.
Hassan was an all-powerful monarch who created democratic institutions and a moderate Arab who formed a diplomatic bridge between the West and radical Arab governments. He helped bring about the 1979 peace treaty between Israel and Egypt, as well as subsequent agreements between Israel and both the Palestine Liberation Organization and Jordan.
Hassan's funeral was scheduled for Sunday, the royal palace said.
The king had been hospitalized earlier Friday in Rabat for what the palace described as an acute lung infection. His son said he died at 4:30 p.m. local time (9:30 a.m. MDT) of a heart attack.
Hassan played a precarious balancing act in the Middle East, bringing Arabs and Israelis closer together, partly because tens of thousands of Israelis are of Moroccan origin. In the 1970s, he made several secret diplomatic overtures to Israel.
In 1983, Hassan challenged Arab sentiment by inviting hundreds of Jews of Moroccan origin, many from Israel, to a convention in Morocco.
In another surprise gesture, Hassan in 1981 became the first Islamic chief of state to visit Pope John Paul II in the Vatican to discuss ways to achieve peace in the Middle East.
John Paul returned the visit in 1985 to a triumphant welcome from more than 100,000 Moroccans in a Casablanca soccer stadium.
In May 1995, Hassan mediated peace talks between Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres and PLO chief Yasser Arafat. A summit of the world's Muslim leaders hosted by the king in 1994 resulted in a public statement against Islamic extremism.
After the king's death Friday, the Palestinian leadership announced three days of mourning in Hassan's memory, beginning Saturday.
Peres said the Middle East was mourning a leader who had offered much to the peace process. "He contributed a great deal," Peres told Israel radio.
President Clinton, who plans to attend the funeral with his wife, said "the Middle East has lost one of its greatest peacemakers."
Clinton said in a statement that Hassan "worked to break down barriers among the peoples of the Middle East, bravely opening a dialogue with Israel . . . seeking greater tolerance and stability in the region."
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said: "By serving as a bridge of peace between different nations and cultures, King Hassan made Morocco itself a bridge of understanding and cooperation between Europe and Africa, North and South, East and West."