RAMALLAH, West Bank – Yasser Arafat, who forced the plight of Palestinians into the world spotlight but failed to achieve his lifelong quest for Palestinian statehood, died today at age 75.
The French military hospital where he had been treated since Oct. 29 said he died at 3:30 a.m. The Palestinian leader spent his final days there in a coma. Doctors would not disclose the cause of his death.
Palestinian flags at Arafat’s battered Ramallah compound were lowered to half-staff. Television broadcast excerpts from the Quran with a picture of Arafat in the background.
In the Gaza Strip, mosques blared Quranic verses and children burned tires on the main streets, covering the skies in black smoke.
“He closed his eyes and his big heart stopped. He left for God, but he is still among this great people,” said senior Arafat aide Tayeb Abdel Rahim, who broke into tears as he announced Arafat’s death.
In a statement, U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan said he was saddened by Arafat’s passing:
“President Arafat was one of those few leaders who could be instantly recognized by people in any walk of life all around the world. For nearly four decades, he expressed and symbolized in his person the national aspirations of the Palestinian people.”
Under Palestinian law, Parliament Speaker Rauhi Fattouh, a virtual unknown, is to become caretaker president until elections are held in 60 days. Palestinian officials have said they want to ensure a smooth transition.
Educated as an engineer in Egypt, Arafat served in the Egyptian army and then started a contracting firm in Kuwait. It was there that he founded the Fatah movement, which became the core of the Palestine Liberation Organization.
After the Arabs’ humbling defeat by Israel in the six-day war of 1967, the PLO thrust itself on the world’s front pages by sending its gunmen out to hijack airplanes, machine gun airports and seize Israeli athletes at the 1972 Summer Olympics.
“As long as the world saw Palestinians as no more than refugees standing in line for U.N. rations, it was not likely to respect them. Now that the Palestinians carry rifles, the situation has changed,” Arafat said at the time.
In the first comment from an Israeli official, Justice Minister Yosef Lapid blamed Arafat for global terrorism and the failure to achieve Middle East peace, but expressed hope of improved relations under new leadership.
“I hated him for the deaths of Israelis. … I hated him for not allowing the peace process … to move forward,” Lapid told Israel Radio.
Associated Press
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat speaks at his compound in the West Bank town of Ramallah in July.
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