Passing of Arafat draws mixed reactions
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-11-11 16:05

On the sleepy streets of Cairo, in the angry camps of Lebanon and at the White House, there was a sense that however his life was judged, Yasser Arafat's death was a solemn and historic moment.

"Another Abdel Nasser has died," said taxi driver Mahmoud Ibrahim, comparing the Palestinian leader to the towering Arab nationalist who ruled Egypt from his 1956 coup until his death in 1970.

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. Cairo's normally hectic streets were quiet, but Ibrahim was at work, driving through the early morning haze.

Ibrahim said his own president's death would not have saddened him as much as Arafat's passing. While Arafat claimed he was born in Jerusalem, researcher's say his birthplace was Cairo, where he went to college and where his PLO was founded.

Arab League spokesman Hossam Zaki eulogized Arafat as "an extraordinary man, the personification of the Palestinian issue."

"He was a man with a cause, and he carried it in his heart everywhere," Zaki added.

In the teeming refugee camps of Ein el-Hilweh and Mieh Mieh near the southern Lebanese city of Sidon, burning tires spewed heavy black smoke and guerrillas fired into the air, rites of mourning that expressed frustration as well as sadness.

Houses on Ein el-Hilweh's streets and alleys were bedecked with Arafat's pictures, Palestinian flags and black banners. Arafat has strong loyalties in the camp, but also fierce rivals. Ein el-Hilweh, known for its lawlessness, is home to about 75,000 Palestinian refugees and their descendants who were displaced by war since the 1948 creation of Israel, and who had pinned hopes on Arafat's promises he would lead them home.

"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 told The Associated Press from Saudi Arabia, where he was performing the Muslim pilgrimage.

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."

Plaudits came from as far away as China, where President Hu Jintao said Arafat was "an outstanding leader of the Palestinian cause and he was an outstanding politician."

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.

"He was indeed a pioneer who had laid out the foundation for the establishment of a Palestinian state," Koizumi said.

Even Arafat's critics acknowledged his death was "a significant moment in Palestinian history," as US President 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 U.S. 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. "Peace in the Middle East must be the international community's highest priority. We will do whatever we can, working with the U.S. and the EU, to help the parties reach a fair and durable settlement."

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