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November 12, 2004 |
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THE ARAB AND ISLAMIC WORLD AND COUNTRIES OF THE WORLD OFFER THEIR CONDOLENCES AND HOPE TO ACHIEVE JUST PEACE IN THE REGION. RAWHI FATTUH CARETAKER OF THE PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY, MAHMOUD ABBAS CHAIRMAN OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE AND FAROUK KADDOUMI LEADER OF FATAH MOVEMENT. The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Fahd Ibn Abdul Aziz sent a cable of condolences to the members of the Palestinian leadership, expressing deep sorrow at the death of President Yasser Arafat of Palestine, and sharing sympathy with his family and the Palestinian people on the sad demise of the Palestinian leader who passed away in Paris. In his own name and on behalf of the people and government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the monarch also sent his warm and sincere condolences to the family and Palestinian people on the sad demise of Arafat, appealing to Almighty Allah to bestow mercy on his soul and reward him a residence in paradise. Similar cables were sent to the Palestinian leadership, Arafat's family and Palestinian people by Crown Prince Abdullah Ibn Abdul Aziz, the Deputy Prime Minister and Commander of the National Guard, and Prince Sultan Ibn Abdul Aziz, the Second Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Defense and Aviation and Inspector General. The Palestinian Leadership mourned Thursday the Palestinian people and Arab and humanitarian nation, President Yasser Arafat, the son of Palestine and its symbol, the maker of its contemporary national movement. The son and the Leader of Fatah movement, Chairman of the PLO Executive Committee and President of the Palestinian National Authority has passed away, they announced. The Leadership concluded that the unity of the Palestinian people is strong and firm , in its way to the establishment of an independent and democratic Palestinian state , the state of the Palestinian dream that President Arafat has turned it into realistic hope. Born Muhammad Abd al-Ra'uf al-Arafat al-Qudwa, Yasser Arafat was related to the Husayni family and had strong family ties to Gaza and Jerusalem. He first became active in Palestinian politics while an engineering student in Cairo in the early 1950s, where he headed the Union of Palestinian Students at Fu'ad I University (now Cairo University) from 1952-1957. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, Arafat launched his own contracting firm in Kuwait and quickly prospered. He probably used his personal wealth to launch al-Fatah, the most prominent of a number of exile groups advancing armed struggle as a means of liberating Palestine. Although he stated for decades that he was married to the cause, he eventually wed in his 60s, taking Suha Tawil, a woman 34 years his junior, as his spouse in 1990. The young Arafat is thought to have adopted the name Yasser - and its epithet "Abu Ammar" - while studying at university in Egypt, to honour an Arab victim of the British mandate in Palestine. From the beginning, Arafat was a powerful grassroots activist and became wedded to the idea of armed struggle to reverse what the Palestinians call the 1948 Catastrophe. That was when the state of Israel was established on more than 70% of Palestine, which had been under British rule. At some point after 1948, Arafat secretly founded Fatah, the Movement for the Liberation of Palestine, with a few like-minded diaspora Palestinians, to achieve that reversal. Arafat later spoke proudly of these days, when he salvaged World War II rifles from the Egyptian desert to arm his organisation. Arafat's CV said that in 1956 he was commissioned as a lieutenant in the Egyptian army and he served during the Suez crisis and the Arab-Israeli war which followed. The expertise which Arafat gained in explosives and demolition prepared him for his role as the head of Fatah's military wing, al-Asifa - the Storm - which started operations in 1965. Al-Asifa's job was to launch guerrilla attacks against Israel, mainly from Jordan, Lebanon and Gaza which was then under Egyptian control. Arafat's reputation was enhanced in 1968 with his courageous defence of the Jordanian town of Karameh against superior Israeli forces. Karameh - which means "dignity" in Arabic - caused a surge of optimism among Palestinians and raised the banner of Palestinian national liberation in contrast to the failure of the Arab regimes to challenge Israel. In 1969, Arafat was voted chairman of the executive committee of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), which had been formed four years earlier by the Arab League. In 1974 Arafat made a dramatic entrance on the international diplomatic stage. Addressing the United Nations General Assembly in New York, he told delegates that he had come "bearing an olive branch and a freedom fighter's gun - do not let the olive branch fall from my hand". Arafat spent most of the eighties in Tunisia. On 13 September 1993, Arafat and Israel's Prime Minister, Yitzhak Rabin, appeared on the White House lawn after secret talks facilitated by Norwegian diplomats. The two sides signed the Declaration of Principles, an agreement allowing Palestinians self-rule in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank town of Jericho in return for the PLO's recognition of the Jewish state. But such fundamental issues as Jewish settlements on occupied land, the future of Palestinians who were made refugees in 1948 and the future of Jerusalem were left undecided. Though Arafat returned in triumph to Gaza the following year, the peace process was fraught with difficulties. Rabin was assassinated in November 1995 and, as President of the Palestinian National Authority, Arafat struggled to define his role and keep Israelis and Palestinians committed to what he termed the "peace of the brave". By 2000, the Oslo peace process had come to a dead end. Arafat was blamed by Israel and the US for the failure in July that year of the peace talks at Camp David. He insisted though that the deal he was offered was far less generous than it has since been portrayed, and, as he put it, "the Arab leader has not been born who would give up Jerusalem". A new intifada was launched in the West Bank and Gaza. Matters came to a head in December 2001 when, following a wave of Palestinian attacks, the Israeli government - led by Ariel Sharon - blockaded him in his West Bank headquarters, accusing him of instigating the terror on Israel's streets. The military hospital where he received treatment observed France's strict medical secrecy laws, and declined to comment on the nature of his condition. All that is known is that Arafat had been unconscious since last week, and suffered a brain haemorrhage which led his organs to fail, one by one. The lack of information has left ample room for rumours and conjecture. A top Hamas leader has accused Israel of poisoning Mr Arafat with an undetectable toxin. This was previously denied by Palestinian officials, as were suggestions Arafat was suffering from cancer. Arafat's difficult living conditions under virtual siege in his half-demolished compound have also been blamed for his mystery illness. Arafat lived in two damp and dark rooms, one his bedroom, the other his office and meeting room, and rarely left the building. "You were there for an hour and you wanted to leave, and he lived there for more than two years," said Karma Nabulsi, a former Palestine Liberation Organisation official. Certainly, the last public image of the Palestinian leader as he left Ramallah for Paris was that of a very frail man. Arafat had been dogged by rumours of ill health for years, including one that he had Parkinson's Disease. His trembling hands, jaw and lower lip were said to be the first signs of the illness. Whatever the cause, his condition started to deteriorate last month when Arafat began suffering from stomach pains. He rarely left the building, and his lack of exposure to fresh air and sunlight were said to have been contributing factors to his worsening condition. The first diagnosis was flu, but two weeks later, the pains worsened sharply, prompting doctors to recommend treatment abroad. Blood tests revealed that he had a low count of platelets - responsible for clotting. At first, Palestinian officials were optimistic, claiming Arafat's condition was not "life-threatening" but his condition deteriorated and died two days later, and the true nature of his condition may never be widely known. In Ramallah Rawhi Fattuh was sworn as caretaker head of the Palestinian Authority until fresh elections are held in 60 days. "I swear to Almighty God that I will be committed to the homeland and its sacred places and to respect the law and constitution," Fattuh said during a swearing-in ceremony at the Palestinian parliament. Under the terms of the Palestinian basic law, the mini constitution, Fattuh will remain as caretaker head of the Palestinian Authority until fresh elections are held in 60 days. In a brief speech to MPs, Fattuh hailed Arafat as the "father of Palestinian nationalism - the first fighter and a great martyr." Deputy speaker Hassan Khreisheh was also sworn in as acting speaker for a 60-day period. Mahmoud Abbas, a former prime minister was elected chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization on Thursday, a post held by Yasser Arafat from 1969 until he died today. Abbas, 69, who has long worked in Arafat's shadow as the PLO's No. 2 official, won the most powerful of the three titles Arafat held president of the Palestinian Authority, leader of the Fatah movement and head of the PLO. The PLO's executive committee met at Arafat's Muqata headquarters in Ramallah on Thursday, hours after the announcement of the former Palestinian leader's death to approve Abbas's appointment, officials who attended the committee meeting told reporters. Farouk Kaddoumi, who rejected past peacemaking with Israel, on Thursday was named head of the mainstream Fatah movement to succeed Yasser Arafat, a Palestinian official said. He told Reuters that Kaddoumi, who had been Fatah's No. 2, was elevated by a vote of its policymaking Central Committee meeting in the West Bank city of Ramallah hours after Arafat died in a French hospital. Kaddoumi rejected interim peace deals signed by Arafat with Israel in 1994 and as a result did not return with him to the West Bank and Gaza Strip, remaining in exile in Tunis. It was not immediately known whether Kaddoumi, who co-founded Fatah with Arafat in 1965, might come back to the Palestinian territories as a result of becoming Fatah chief. Israel imposed a major clampdown on the occupied territories after Yasser Arafat's death yesterday due to fears of attacks as armed militants loyal to the veteran Palestinian leader vowed to avenge him. Immediately following the announcement that Arafat had died in a French hospital, the Israeli army began deploying reinforcements around Palestinian towns and Jewish settlements in the West Bank. The soldiers, especially those deployed around Ramallah, were equipped to disperse any unruly demonstrations, military radio reported. The stepped-up security meant that West Bank Palestinians with valid work permits were barred from entering Israeli territory until further notice, while the Gaza Strip has long been under isolation. Amid fears of a possible outbreak of anti-Israeli attacks, Israeli police sent extra officers to take up positions along the so-called "green line" that separates the West Bank from Israeli soil. The army said Israeli police were also sending reinforcements to east Jerusalem to head off any violence linked to Arafat's death, which came just ahead of the end of the holy Muslim month of Ramadan this weekend. Tears and gunshots, praise and condemnation marked the death of Yasser Arafat, whose fight for the Palestinian cause made him a towering and controversial figure on the world stage. Arafat's death at a Paris hospital, long expected after he flew to France for treatment of a mysterious illness late last month and soon after fell into a coma, was announced about 6 a.m. in the Middle East. "Mr. Yasser Arafat, president of the Palestinian Authority, has died at the Percy Military Training Hospital in Clamart on Nov. 11, 2004, at 3:30," spokesman Gen. Christian Estripeau told reporters in a brief statement. Estripeau then told reporters that Arafat's body would be leaving the hospital, but that -- because of French privacy laws -- no details would be given on the cause of death or anything else. Arafat, 75, was flown to Paris on Oct. 29 for treatment of an undisclosed illness. He fell into a coma a week later and was put on a life support machine. His health steadily deteriorated and he suffered some brain damage due to haemorrhage. Only his heart and lungs were still functioning, Palestinian officials said Wednesday. No diagnosis was made public. French President Jacques Chirac said in a statement that he had learned of Arafat's death "with emotion" and that France would continue to press "with conviction" for an independent Palestinian state alongside that of Israel. "With him disappears the man of courage and conviction who, for 40 years, has incarnated the Palestinians' combat for recognition of their national rights," Chirac said. "To the Palestinian people, I want to express at this moment of mourning the friendship of France and the French people." "May the loss that they have just suffered unite the Palestinians." During his final hours, a top Islamic cleric, Tayssir Bayoud Tamimi, sat at Arafat's bedside reading passages from the Qur'an. For two weeks, supporters had held vigils day and night outside his hospital surrounded by candles, flags and pictures of their leader. Arafat, who led the Palestinians for four decades, will be buried at his Ramallah compound in the West Bank, known as the Muqataa. His spokesman, Nabil Abu Rdeneh, said late Wednesday that a funeral would be held in Cairo to make it easier for foreign dignitaries to attend. He flew to the Egyptian capital to begin preparations. Egypt, which was to give Arafat a state funeral today, Yemen and Jordan announced three days' mourning. State-run Jordan radio and television replaced regular programming with recitations of Qur'anic versus interrupted only by hourly news bulletins. "We have known him as a defender of right and a struggler against occupation, and striving toward peace," Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said of Arafat as he opened a session of Parliament. Plaudits came from as far away as China, where President Hu Jintao said Arafat was "an outstanding leader of the Palestinian cause." Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi praised Arafat's efforts on behalf of peace and his people, citing his signing of the 1993 Israel-PLO accord that gave him control of most of Gaza Strip and 27 percent of West Bank. "Yasser Arafat spent his entire life for the Palestinian cause. We pray that his mission is completed after his death," Pakistani Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said from Saudi Arabia, where he was performing the Muslim pilgrimage. German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder credited Arafat with striving to lead the Palestinians to independence, regretting that "it was not granted to Yasser Arafat to complete his life's work." Russian President Vladimir Putin said the Palestinians had suffered a heavy loss, and his Foreign Ministry called for the international community, Israel and the Palestinians to redouble peace efforts. French President Jacques Chirac, who had visited Arafat days before his death, called him a "man of courage and conviction who, for 40 years, has incarnated the Palestinians' combat for recognition of their national rights." Praise also came from the European Union, the Arab League and UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who said Arafat had "expressed and symbolized in his person the national aspirations of the Palestinian people." Even Arafat's critics acknowledged his death was "a significant moment in Palestinian history," as US President George W. Bush put it. Bush, who had accused Arafat of blocking peace with Israel, expressed condolences to the Palestinian people. "We hope that the future will bring peace and the fulfillment of their aspirations for an independent, democratic Palestine that is at peace with its neighbors," added Bush, the first US president to publicly call for an independent Palestinian state. British Prime Minister Tony Blair, expressing his condolences to Arafat's family and to the Palestinian people and noting that Arafat was a Nobel Peace laureate, also looked ahead. The "goal of a viable Palestinian state alongside a secure Israel is one that we must continue to work tirelessly to achieve," Blair said in a statement read by a spokeswoman. Palestinians will observe 40 days of mourning for Arafat, the Palestinian Cabinet decided yesterday. During the first week, all schools and government offices will be closed. On word of the death of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, Secretary of State Colin Powell pledged on Thursday the United States would "do all we can" to help Palestinians achieve peace and urged calm to prevail in the region. Powell hailed Arafat as "a significant figure in the history of the region and the world, and we know that, in the eyes of the Palestinian people, Arafat embodied their hopes and dreams for the achievement of an independent Palestinian state." "Our concern remains for the Palestinian people and the realization of the vision of an independent, democratic, viable Palestinian state, at peace with its neighbors, as set forward by President Bush," Powell said in a statement issued after Arafat's death was announced at a hospital outside Paris. "We will do all we can to support and help the Palestinian people move forward toward peace during this period of transition, and we encourage others in the region and the international community to do the same," Powell said. "It is our hope that calm will prevail in the region during this period of mourning." British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw paid tribute to Yasser Arafat for his "unquestionable devotion" to the "plight" of the Palestinian people. He said that it would be "hard to imagine the Middle East without him" after he played such a dominant role in the region. In a statement, he said: "I want to express my deep sympathy and condolences to the Palestinian people on the death of Yasser Arafat. "President Arafat played such a dominant role on behalf of the Palestinians over so many decades that it is hard to imagine the Middle East without him. "As the leader of his people, he created an international awareness of, and concern about, the plight of the Palestinian people. He displayed unquestionable devotion to his work. "President Arafat led the Palestinian national movement through the 1980s and 1990s to an acceptance of Israel, a two state solution, and negotiation as the means to achieve that goal. "He died knowing that the international community had committed itself to a viable Palestinian state alongside a secure state of Israel. As the Prime Minister has made clear, the United Kingdom will continue to do all it can to strive for that outcome." |
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