End of an era as Yasser Arafat dies at age 75
CTV.ca News Staff
Longtime Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat has died, signaling the end of an era for his people.
"Officially, he is dead," Palestinian cabinet minister Saeb Erekat told reporters in the West Bank city of Ramallah early Thursday. As the flag was lowered at the 75-year-old Palestinian leader's Muqata compound, top aide Tayeb Abdel Rahim told reporters Arafat had died while in a deep coma.
A short while later, Gen. Christian Estripeau emerged from the French military training hospital where Arafat had been undergoing treatment to deliver the official announcement.
Arafat died in the hospital's intensive care unit at 3:30 a.m. local time, he said in a short statement delivered in French.
Arafat leaves his 42-year-old wife, Suha, who lives in France with their young daughter.
He had been under the care of French doctors in the hospital at Clamart near Paris since Oct. 29, when he was airlifted there from his Ramallah compound.
Reporting from Ramallah, CTV's Janis Mackey Frayer says the subsequent weeks of speculation that Arafat's death was imminent have given people plenty of time to prepare for this moment.
"As far as the Palestinian people are concerned, they have been coming to terms with it for some time. They have had a bit of time to consider life without him."
In that context, Mackey Frayer expects a calm reaction on the West Bank.
"It will be orderly," she said, "Especially among those hoping for a constitutionally-mandated election in the next 60 days."
Burial plans
Plans for Arafat's funeral have been the subject of intense, closed-door sessions for both Palestinian and Israeli politicians.
On Wednesday, Palestinian officials confirmed they had accepted an Egyptian offer to host Arafat's state funeral in Cairo, before his burial in Ramallah.
It was decided that Cairo could provide the security necessary for the Arab and other foreign leaders expected to attend.
However, there could be problems for prominent Palestinians hoping to attend the Cairo service. According to the Jerusalem Post, Israel is set to allow up to 1,000 officials from the Gaza Strip and a limited number from the West Bank to travel to Egypt that day.
The Post reported that Palestinian Legislative Council member Kadoura Fares was warning of violence if Israel tries to limit the number of Palestinians at the funeral.
After the state funeral, Arafat's body will then be flown to the West Bank and laid to rest in the Muqata compound in Ramallah, where he had been under house arrest for more than two years.
Arafat had expressed a wish to be buried in Jerusalem, near the al-Aqsa Mosque, which Jews know as the Temple Mount. The Israeli government never gave serious consideration to this proposal.
Arafat's bureau director, Tayeb Abdul Rahim, said Tuesday night that the Palestinian leadership had decided to turn the Muqata compound into a mausoleum.
"`If God's will prevails, then all the arrangements will be made here in Muqata, because it is considered a symbol of Palestinian steadfastness,'' he said.
On the political front, the Palestinian leadership has been meeting constantly for the past two weeks, making security arrangements and dealing with at least 13 different factions such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
Groups have thus far pledged cooperation, and last weekend came to agreement on a plan to "restore law and order" in the Palestinian territories.
The new lineup of power:
Rawhi Fattuh, speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council, will take the largely ceremonial role of acting chairman. He is then expected to call elections within 60 days.
Mahmoud Abbas, the former prime minister, takes over the most political responsibility as acting chair of the Palestine Liberation Organization as well as the executive committee of the main pro-Arafat group, Fatah.
Ahmed Quriea, the current prime minister, takes over as chairman of the National Security Council. He'll control the Palestinian police and security forces, and takes over Arafat's financial authority.
The final days
Precipitated by a rapid decline in his illness just a few days earlier, Arafat's final trip to France was his first departure from the battered West Bank headquarters in almost three years.
Arafat had reportedly been suffering an unknown illness for two weeks when his condition took a sudden turn for the worse during dinner on Oct. 27. Arafat had been dining with Qureia and Abbas, when he fell ill and lost consciousness.
The next day, doctors said tests showed Arafat had a low blood platelet count, but would not speculate on what caused his condition.
Two days after his dinnertime collapse, Arafat was airlifted to France via Amman, Jordan.
With the eyes of the world anxiously watching for clues to Arafat's true condition, reports in the days that followed failed to clear up the confusion.
Instead, it was suggested he had been diagnosed with everything from cancer to dementia to leukemia. He was even described at times as: improving, comatose and even, prematurely, dead.
Confusion over his condition served, at least, to forestall the chaos many consider the inevitable result of a power vacuum at the top of the Palestinian Authority.
Arafat was elected president of the Palestinian Authority in 1996, two years after he and his former sworn enemies, then-Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, were celebrated as co-winners of the Nobel Peace Prize.
Arafat's international reputation has since faded, however, dismissed as irrelevant by some, and as an outright obstacle to peace by others.
When the landmark Oslo Accords he and Peres had agreed to failed to take hold, a second intifada erupted. Although Arafat condemned every act of violence in the next four years, he was criticized for not being able to stop them altogether.
Detractors also blasted the Palestinian leader for one of the hallmarks of his political career -- the aversion to sharing power that resulted in his passing without an heir apparent.
Arafat's recent appointment of a Palestinian prime minister was seen as a major concession, leaving Qureia and Abbas as likely candidates to fill his shoes. However, recent polls show neither man is well-known to the public, and at this point they would be unlikely winners of a general election.
CTV.ca News Staff
Longtime Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat has died, signaling the end of an era for his people.
"Officially, he is dead," Palestinian cabinet minister Saeb Erekat told reporters in the West Bank city of Ramallah early Thursday. As the flag was lowered at the 75-year-old Palestinian leader's Muqata compound, top aide Tayeb Abdel Rahim told reporters Arafat had died while in a deep coma.
A short while later, Gen. Christian Estripeau emerged from the French military training hospital where Arafat had been undergoing treatment to deliver the official announcement.
Arafat died in the hospital's intensive care unit at 3:30 a.m. local time, he said in a short statement delivered in French.
Arafat leaves his 42-year-old wife, Suha, who lives in France with their young daughter.
He had been under the care of French doctors in the hospital at Clamart near Paris since Oct. 29, when he was airlifted there from his Ramallah compound.
Reporting from Ramallah, CTV's Janis Mackey Frayer says the subsequent weeks of speculation that Arafat's death was imminent have given people plenty of time to prepare for this moment.
"As far as the Palestinian people are concerned, they have been coming to terms with it for some time. They have had a bit of time to consider life without him."
In that context, Mackey Frayer expects a calm reaction on the West Bank.
"It will be orderly," she said, "Especially among those hoping for a constitutionally-mandated election in the next 60 days."
Burial plans
Plans for Arafat's funeral have been the subject of intense, closed-door sessions for both Palestinian and Israeli politicians.
On Wednesday, Palestinian officials confirmed they had accepted an Egyptian offer to host Arafat's state funeral in Cairo, before his burial in Ramallah.
It was decided that Cairo could provide the security necessary for the Arab and other foreign leaders expected to attend.
However, there could be problems for prominent Palestinians hoping to attend the Cairo service. According to the Jerusalem Post, Israel is set to allow up to 1,000 officials from the Gaza Strip and a limited number from the West Bank to travel to Egypt that day.
The Post reported that Palestinian Legislative Council member Kadoura Fares was warning of violence if Israel tries to limit the number of Palestinians at the funeral.
After the state funeral, Arafat's body will then be flown to the West Bank and laid to rest in the Muqata compound in Ramallah, where he had been under house arrest for more than two years.
Arafat had expressed a wish to be buried in Jerusalem, near the al-Aqsa Mosque, which Jews know as the Temple Mount. The Israeli government never gave serious consideration to this proposal.
Arafat's bureau director, Tayeb Abdul Rahim, said Tuesday night that the Palestinian leadership had decided to turn the Muqata compound into a mausoleum.
"`If God's will prevails, then all the arrangements will be made here in Muqata, because it is considered a symbol of Palestinian steadfastness,'' he said.
On the political front, the Palestinian leadership has been meeting constantly for the past two weeks, making security arrangements and dealing with at least 13 different factions such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
Groups have thus far pledged cooperation, and last weekend came to agreement on a plan to "restore law and order" in the Palestinian territories.
The new lineup of power:
Rawhi Fattuh, speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council, will take the largely ceremonial role of acting chairman. He is then expected to call elections within 60 days.
Mahmoud Abbas, the former prime minister, takes over the most political responsibility as acting chair of the Palestine Liberation Organization as well as the executive committee of the main pro-Arafat group, Fatah.
Ahmed Quriea, the current prime minister, takes over as chairman of the National Security Council. He'll control the Palestinian police and security forces, and takes over Arafat's financial authority.
The final days
Precipitated by a rapid decline in his illness just a few days earlier, Arafat's final trip to France was his first departure from the battered West Bank headquarters in almost three years.
Arafat had reportedly been suffering an unknown illness for two weeks when his condition took a sudden turn for the worse during dinner on Oct. 27. Arafat had been dining with Qureia and Abbas, when he fell ill and lost consciousness.
The next day, doctors said tests showed Arafat had a low blood platelet count, but would not speculate on what caused his condition.
Two days after his dinnertime collapse, Arafat was airlifted to France via Amman, Jordan.
With the eyes of the world anxiously watching for clues to Arafat's true condition, reports in the days that followed failed to clear up the confusion.
Instead, it was suggested he had been diagnosed with everything from cancer to dementia to leukemia. He was even described at times as: improving, comatose and even, prematurely, dead.
Confusion over his condition served, at least, to forestall the chaos many consider the inevitable result of a power vacuum at the top of the Palestinian Authority.
Arafat was elected president of the Palestinian Authority in 1996, two years after he and his former sworn enemies, then-Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, were celebrated as co-winners of the Nobel Peace Prize.
Arafat's international reputation has since faded, however, dismissed as irrelevant by some, and as an outright obstacle to peace by others.
When the landmark Oslo Accords he and Peres had agreed to failed to take hold, a second intifada erupted. Although Arafat condemned every act of violence in the next four years, he was criticized for not being able to stop them altogether.
Detractors also blasted the Palestinian leader for one of the hallmarks of his political career -- the aversion to sharing power that resulted in his passing without an heir apparent.
Arafat's recent appointment of a Palestinian prime minister was seen as a major concession, leaving Qureia and Abbas as likely candidates to fill his shoes. However, recent polls show neither man is well-known to the public, and at this point they would be unlikely winners of a general election.
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