World leaders reacted to the death early on Thursday of veteran Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat by accepting him as a symbol of his people’s cause, but differed sharply over his contribution to the Middle East peace process.
They united, however, in calling for an end to the long-running and bloody Israeli-Palestinian conflict via a lasting peace settlement that would include the creation of an independent Palestinian state.
United States President George Bush, who had sought to marginalise Arafat, said his death is ”a significant moment in Palestinian history”, according to a White House statement.
Arafat (75) died in a French military hospital close to Paris after being airlifted there from his Ramallah headquarters on October 29. He had been in a coma since the middle of last week.
”For the Palestinian people, we hope that the future will bring peace and the fulfilment of their aspirations for an independent, democratic Palestine that is at peace with its neighbours,” Bush said.
While he is the first US president to endorse formally the creation of an independent Palestinian state, Bush had always made it clear that he regarded Arafat as a ”failed” leader.
Bush’s predecessor, Bill Clinton, who engineered the historic handshake on the White House lawn as Arafat and then Israeli premier Yitzhak Rabin signed the 1993 Oslo peace accords, expressed condolences tinged with regret.
He said that while Arafat’s ”greatest moment” was that handshake, ”I regret that in 2000 [at further peace talks] he missed the opportunity to bring that nation into being.”
United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan said Arafat had ”symbolised … the national aspirations of the Palestinian people”.
By signing the Oslo accords, ”he took a giant step towards the realisation of this vision. It is tragic that he did not live to see it fulfilled.
”Now that he has gone, both Israelis and Palestinians, and the friends of both peoples throughout the world, must make even greater efforts to bring about the peaceful realisation of the Palestinian right of self-determination.”
Israeli President Moshe Katsav said he hopes a new Palestinian leadership ”will take a new path with a view to putting an end to terrorism and violence, which would allow a resumption of negotiations”.
”I hope the Palestinians will quickly know how to overcome their grief, and that their new leaders will act to help them escape the suffering and distress in which they have been plunged,” he added.
But Israeli Justice Minister Tommy Lapid, describing Arafat as a ”founding father of terrorism”, said it was ”good that the world is rid of him … The sun is shining in the Middle East.”
French President Jacques Chirac, who was to pay a final homage on Thursday at the hospital where Arafat died, said: ”With him disappears a man of courage and conviction who for 40 years incarnated the Palestinians’ fight for recognition of their national rights.”
British Prime Minister Tony Blair said the peace process is the ”highest priority” for the international community.
”We will do whatever we can, working with the US and European Union, to help the parties reach a fair and durable settlement,” he said.
Jordan decreed a 40-day mourning period at the royal court and three days nationwide as King Abdullah II expressed ”deep sadness and pain”.
”The Palestinian people, despite their deep pain, will know how to overcome its sorrow and pursue its efforts to recover the rights of the Palestinian people and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state,” an official statement said.
In Moscow, a Kremlin spokesperson quoted Russian President Vladimir Putin as saying that Arafat’s death is ”a heavy loss for the Palestinian leadership, [for] the whole Palestinian people”.
Chinese President Hu Jintao called Arafat ”a brilliant leader” and ”a great friend” of China and urged Palestinians to continue efforts to bring peace to the Middle East.
Echoing Clinton’s words, Australian Prime Minister John Howard said history would judge Arafat harshly for failing to embrace an Israeli peace offer four years ago.
”I think if Arafat had grabbed hold of that opportunity in the dying days of the Clinton administration then the path of things in the Middle East may have been smoother,” he said.
South African President Thabo Mbeki expressed his ”deepest regret” at the death of a ”giant of the struggle of the poor and struggle of the oppressed”, in the words of presidential spokesperson Bheki Khumalo.
Khumalo said Mbeki will attend Friday’s funeral in Cairo.
India hailed Arafat as ”an enduring symbol of Palestinian nationhood”, and Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi called him a ”pioneer” of his cause. — Sapa
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