RAMALLAH, 22 December 2004 — Marking the end of mourning for Yasser Arafat, his emerging successor said yesterday that he remains committed to a peace deal with Israel that would produce a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as a capital.
Mahmoud Abbas spoke at Arafat’s old headquarters, to which the Palestinian leader had been confined for nearly three years, until just days before his Nov. 11 death at a Paris hospital. Yesterday marked the end of 40 days of mourning for Arafat.
Abbas, the PLO chief, is the front-runner in Jan. 9 elections to replace Arafat as Palestinian Authority president, which would seal his status as Arafat’s successor.
“We are standing here today to reiterate to the world that we are committed to the choice of just peace, to achieve the rights of our people,” Abbas said.
Referring to Arafat, Abbas said: “We will continue the struggle to make your dream and our dream come true and to have a Palestinian child raise the Palestinian flag on the walls of Jerusalem, the capital of our independent Palestinian state.”
Abbas said he would follow Arafat’s legacy, as outlined in a speech by the late Palestinian leader in the summer. In that speech, Arafat acknowledged he had made mistakes in running the Palestinian Authority and promised government reform.
Pledging that “nobody will be above the law,” Abbas said the Palestinians are moving toward democracy.
Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said in an interview published yestertday in The Jerusalem Post daily that he was “discouraged” by Abbas’ refusal to distance himself from Arafat, whom Israel had shunned as a leader tainted by terror. It was the strongest Israeli criticism of Abbas since Arafat’s death. Abbas and Arafat often fought bitterly, with Arafat blocking government and security reform, and the disagreements prompted Abbas to resign as prime minister in 2003. However, Abbas has been careful not to criticize Arafat’s legacy, in part because he wants to harness his enduring popularity during the election campaign.
The end of the mourning period fell on a day crammed with Mideast diplomacy.
World Bank president James Wolfensohn was holding meetings with Israeli and Palestinian leaders yesterday to talk about more aid for the Palestinian Authority.
The World Bank wants to raise $500 million in additional aid, but has linked the money to an easing of Israeli travel restrictions on Palestinians and Palestinian reform efforts.
“The donors, essentially, today, having gone through the intifadah (Palestinian uprising), are going to want to feel that if they put in an additional $500 million (a year), that it’s being done seriously and with an opportunity for a viable area,” Wolfensohn told the Israeli daily Haaretz.
International donors, led by the United States and Europe, already provide more than $900 million in assistance to the Palestinians each year. But donors have complained that four years of fighting have greatly limited the effectiveness of the aid.
Later yesterday, British Prime Minister Tony Blair was due for talks in the West Bank and Israel, the highest-ranking visitor since Arafat’s death. Earlier yesterday, he paid a surprise visit to Baghdad to hold talks with interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi.
