Mandela Honors Arafat As Great Freedom Fighter

the US and Israel on Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in statements made after Arafat's death yesterday.

United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Arafat reflects the Palestinian people's national longing and would be remembered as a leader that wanted the Palestinian government to live in peace.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair said that Arafat was a symbol of the Palestinian movement and British State Minister Jack Straw said that it was hard to think of the Middle East without him. German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said Arafat led the Palestinians toward liberation, but could not succeed in his lifetime. German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer note, "An era has ended. Everything should be done correctly for a government handover."

Dutch Foreign Minister Bernard Bot said that they would try hard to meet the Palestinian people's desire for liberation by working with the international community and the Palestinian government. Russian President Vladimir Putin said Arafat's death was a big loss for the Palestinian people and government. Chinese leader Hu Xintao expressed condolences in Arafat's memory. Former State Minister Nelson Mandela, who was a symbol of the struggle against the racist regime in Southern Africa, said he would bow before the memorial of Arafat, whose dream of a Palestinian state has not been achieved. Cuba's legendary leader Fidel Castro announced three days of mourning in his country.

Defining Arafat's death as an "important" incident for Palestine, US President George W. Bush sent his condolences to the Palestinian people and hoped their dream of an independent Palestinian government would come true and that they would exist in peace with their neighbors. Former US President Bill Clinton said Arafat's brightest political moment was signing the Oslo Peace Treaty.

http://www.zaman.com/?bl=international&alt=&trh=20041112&hn=13800

PRESIDENT Sam Nujoma joined fellow world leaders who are deeply in mourning following the passing of Palestinian struggle icon Yasser Arafat who personified the tribulations and suffering of his people.

Messages of condolence from churches, from past and from sitting presidents, from leaders around the world and from others, have been pouring in since the Palestinian leadership finally announced the passing away of Arafat in France yesterday.

In his message of condolence President Nujoma stated, "I am deeply saddened by the passing away of my Comrade and Dear Brother, Yasser Arafat, President of the Palestinian Authority.

"On behalf of the Government and the people of the Republic of Namibia, and indeed on my own behalf, I wish to convey our sincere sympathy and heartfelt condolences to the bereaved family and to the Palestinian people during this hour of great loss and sorrow," said Nujoma, who was an Arafat ally.

He said, "Arafat distinguished himself as a true revolutionary of our times by devoting his entire life to the heroic struggle of his people for self-determination and independence.

"He will always be remembered as the embodiment of the collective aspirations of the Palestinian people in their quest for freedom and genuine nationhood. In his passing, the people of Palestine have lost a great leader, who has also inspired millions of struggling masses around the world including the people of Africa in their fight against colonialism and foreign occupation," said the President in his message sent to Ahmed Qureia the Prime Minister of the Palestinian Authority.

"The Namibian people join the progressive and peace-loving people around the world in standing with the people of Palestine in their just struggle for genuine freedom and independence to which President Arafat dedicated his entire life," he stated.

Adding: "May President Arafat's soul rest in eternal peace."

In a related development AFP reported that Arafat's death plunged the Middle East into a void of uncertainty, as regional commentators tried to assess the impact of his disappearance on the internal Palestinian scene and the ailing peace process with Israel. Analysts highlighted Arab fears over who will follow in his footsteps and fill the gaping hole left by the death of a man whose charisma and undisputed helmsmanship had equated him with all things Palestinian for the past four decades.

Most observers expressed concern over the way his successors would handle the prickly task of dealing with Israel and pursue attempts to sign a peace deal and obtain a Palestinian state.

"The Palestinian future is up in the air after Arafat's death, because whoever will succeed him will never be able to provide what Arafat gave to the Palestinian people," Palestinian writer Jihad al-Hazen said.

Many commentators stressed that no other leader could surpass the prestige Arafat commanded domestically and overcome internal differences in the same way the late leader did.

"Arafat was the symbol of the Palestinian struggle during the two crucial phases of its history, when Fatah was created and when he returned to Gaza," Egyptian analyst Magdi Abdel Hamid said.

Arafat, who died early Thursday in a hospital near Paris, founded the ruling Fatah party in 1959 and returned to Gaza after years in exile following the 1993 Oslo accords on Palestinian autonomy.

Arafat's death removes a key player from the political scene of a Middle East engulfed in violence, as the intifada enters its fifth year and Iraq is ripped apart by daily bloodshed.

"You can always replace a leader, but it will not be easy to replace Arafat's leadership," political analyst Mohammed al-Khuli concurred.

"Arafat wasn't only the elected president of the Palestinians. He had taken up arms with the fedayeen (fighters) before becoming a statesman combining both qualities," said another Egyptian commentator, Mohammed Shafei.

Most Arab analysts argued that Israel and the United States "made a huge mistake" in their assessment of the situation by deciding to sideline Arafat and treat him as "part of the problem instead of part of the solution".

"The US administration chose the wrong path when it dropped any willingness to deal with him," said Imad Gad, an analyst at the Al-Ahram Centre for Strategic Studies.

"None of the Palestinians leaders who will succeed him will manage to convince (the Palestinians) to renounce anything that Arafat refused to relinquish," he said in a reference to the Palestinian refugees' right of return.

He argued that Israel was mistaken in believing that Mahmud Abbas, a Fatah co-founder who was appointed at the helm of the Palestine Liberation Organisation after Arafat's death, would take a more conciliatory stance.

"These are scenarios which are rejected by Egypt as well as all other Arab countries," Gad said.

However Ghassan Shar-bal, the editor of the London-based Arab daily Al-Hayat, suggested Arafat's passing could offer an opportunity to push through a change in Palestinian mentalities.

"The Palestinians have to acknowledge that they no longer have anybody with such aura anymore and ponder means of yanking their cause out of dormancy," he said.

Addressing fears of internal post-Arafat chaos as various Palestinian factions vie for power, Sharbal urged all sides to be pragmatic and called on the Islamist movement Hamas to be "responsible" and admit that "the current rapport-de-forces does not allow it to forward its agenda."

Commentators have warn-ed that the radical group, which has claimed responsibility for strings of deadly anti-Israeli attacks and whose manifesto implicitly calls for the destruction of Israel, could seek to take advantage of the power vacuum, stated an AFP story.

http://allafrica.com/stories/200411120550.html

Cartoon Video On Arafat's Life
link

This site has sunk into a new abyss. It ceases to be relevant. I used to contribute here, not troll, but you guys have become absurd and lack total credibility. No more.