Palestinians Look to Future Without Arafat

In stark contrast to the dramatic outpouring of emotion among the Palestinian people in Ramallah on Friday, Arafat's successors gathered solemnly for prayers on Saturday at the Muqata compound that had been a virtual prison for the last years of the Palestinian leader's life.

The newly appointed Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) chairman Mahmud Abbas, Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia and the caretaker head of the Palestinian Authority Rawhi Fattuh gathered at Arafat's marble tomb. They were joined by the deceased leader's nephew Nasser al-Qidwa and the Palestinian representatives to the United Nations for the intimate morning prayer service marking the end of the holy month of Ramadan.

After the ceremony, ordinary residents of Ramallah filed past the burial site, reciting verses of the Koran and kneeling at the grave of the only leader most of them had ever known, a man who championed their cause for two generations.

Meanwhile the Palestinian leadership began preparing for elections due to be held in two months time. Fattuh will serve as caretaker head of the Palestinian Authority for 60 days, at which time presidential elections must be held under Palestinian basic law.

Restoring the peace process

Many in the Middle East and the international community are viewing the death of Arafat and the election of a new leader as an opportunity to revive the stalled peace process.

On Friday, President George W. Bush promised to rally the international community to the cause. "I believe we've got a great chance to establish a Palestinian state. I would like to see it done in four years. I think it is possible, " Bush said after a summit with British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

Blair, who has been pushing his US colleague to take a more active role in the peace process, said a Palestinian state must be nothing less than a "proper democratic state" and the first step is to ensure that elections take place.

German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer, who has traveled frequently to the Middle East as a negotiator in the peace process, expressed condolences for the loss of Arafat, but said it was time for the Palestinian people to pull together and "find the strength to turn itself into a sovereign, independent and democratic state, existing side-by-side in peace with its neighbor Israel."

"Everything must be done to ensure a civil transfer of power. Elections must lead to the naming of a legitimate leader, who is committed to the peace process," Fischer said in the name of the German government.

Legitimate representation

"I hope Europe and the United States will stand shoulder-to-shoulder with us in order to carry out the presidential elections," Palestinian Negotiations Minister Saeb Erakat told AFP newswires. "If we can do that, the transition will be smooth and will take the Palestinians towards democracy, pluralism and peace."

Unlike Arafat, the new head of the Palestinian Authority must be recognized by Israel, he said. Since coming to power in early 2001, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, with the support of Washington, had boycotted Arafat, rejecting him as an unsuitable partner for peace talks.

"In the last four years, the obstacle to peace was Sharon," Jibril Rajub, chief of security in the West Bank and Arafat's former security advisor, told AFP. But the entire international community also needs to recognize and endorse the newly elected leader for the Palestinian people in order for the peace process to succeed.

The United States, the European Union, Russia and the United Nations -- the so-called Middle East quartet -- need to work together with Israel and the Palestinians to make sure the roadmap to peace, which foresees the creation of an independent Palestinian state, can be realized.