Yasser Arafat dies

Yasser Arafat, who triumphantly forced his people’s plight into the world spotlight but failed to achieve his lifelong quest for Palestinian statehood, died today, aged 75, Palestinian Cabinet minister Saeb Erekat confirmed.

He was to the end a man of many mysteries and paradoxes – terrorist, statesman, autocrat and peacemaker.

The Palestinian leader spent his final days in a coma at a French military hospital outside Paris.

Arafat’s last days were as murky and dramatic as his life. Flown to France on October 29 after nearly three years of being penned in his West Bank headquarters by Israeli tanks, he initially improved but then sharply deteriorated as rumours swirled about his illness.

Top Palestinian officials flew in to check on their leader while Arafat’s 41-year-old wife, Suha, publicly accused them of trying to usurp his powers. Ordinary Palestinians prayed for his well being, but expressed deep frustration over his failure to improve their lives.

Arafat’s failure to groom a successor complicated his passing, raising the danger of factional conflict among Palestinians.

The European Union praised Yasser Arafat today for his “single-minded commitment” to the Palestinian cause and pledged to work with the new Palestinian leadership to find peace in the Middle East.

“Although he has not lived to see the birth of a Palestinian state, we will work with the Palestinian authorities and the international community to contribute to realising the aspirations of the Palestinian people,” said a statement on behalf of the EU from Dutch Foreign Minister Ben Bot.

The Netherlands holds the EU’s rotating presidency.

Bot conveyed the EU’s “profound condolences” to Arafat’s wife and family and the Palestinian people.

“In him the Palestinian people, both within and outside the Palestinian Territories, have lost an historic leader and a democratically elected president, whose devotion and single-minded commitment to the Palestinian national cause throughout his life was never in doubt,” said Bot’s statement.

Bot commended the Palestinian leadership for “their demonstration of responsibility to maintain the functioning of Palestinian institutions in this difficult time”.

He urged “the Palestinian people to gather behind its leadership and stressed that they may be assured of the undiminished support of the European Union on the path towards a peaceful, durable and just settlement of the conflict, which both they and the people of Israel so richly deserve”.