KRT CampusPalestinian president Yasser Arafat died early Thursday morning in a Paris hospital after complications from an unknown disease caused him to slip into a deep coma and be placed on life support.
Arafat-who was viewed by many Palestinians as a symbol of their struggle for independent statehood and by many Israelis as a murderous terrorist-was surrounded by his wife and top government aides, all of whom are grappling with questions about his financial and political legacy.
When Arafat’s condition worsened considerably in late October, he was flown to Paris for treatment. He slipped into a coma on Nov. 3 and died a week later. Although the disease from which Arafat suffered is unknown, some of his ailments stemmed from a blood disorder.
Arafat was granted permission by the Israelis to leave his West Bank compound in Ramallah (“the Muqata”), which he used as his headquarters and where he had been since December 2001.
Palestinians mourn the loss of their leader, who was a father figure for many.
The New York Times cited Tayeb Abdel Rahim, secretary-general of the presidency in Palestine, as saying almost in tears, “Yasser Arafat planted the seeds of hope for his people… [Arafat’s] children were the workers, the farmers, the young people… The Palestinian people mourn their leader, their teacher, their father.”
Others see Arafat’s passing as an opportunity to reignite the peace process, which broke down in 2001. Violence ensued just months after Arafat rejected the stipulations of the Camp David peace accords, which proposed a settlement and were facilitated by former President Bill Clinton.
“The recent events could be a historic turning point for the Middle East,” Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said, as cited on CNN.com. “Israel is a country that seeks peace and will continue in its efforts to reach a peace deal with the Palestinians without delay.”
Arafat’s funeral will be held on Friday in Cairo where he will be buried on the site of the Muqata in Ramallah. The funeral location was chosen to prevent problems with Arab leaders and Israeli border controls. A limited number of Palestinians and other leaders will be permitted by the Israelis to attend his burial.
Burying Arafat
A contentious issue during Arafat’s final weeks was deciding where to bury him. The Palestinians wanted Arafat buried in Jerusalem, on the Temple Mount, one of the holiest sites in Islam. Israelis, however, would not accept having Arafat buried in Jerusalem. Instead, they thought Arafat should be buried in Gaza, his home territory and the burial place of his father and other family members.
Eventually, a compromise was reached: Arafat would be buried in his compound in Ramallah on the West Bank.
Washington University History Professor Hillel Kieval believes the compromise has several benefits.
“Ramallah, while close to Jerusalem, is not Jerusalem; it’s a West Bank city. The Palestinians can still derive symbolic capital from burying him where he was entrenched for a while, the embattled leader. For the Israelis, it means they don’t have to face a showdown of burying him in Jerusalem. This is an example to me of a style of pragmatic negotiations which didn’t obtain since the second intifada-over the last three years,” Kieval said.
Who will succeed Arafat?
There has been much discussion in the Palestinian government regarding Arafat’s successor. Palestinian parliament speaker Rawhi Fattuh has been sworn in as interim president of the Palestinian Authority (PA), although under Palestinian law elections must be held within 60 days.
Arafat’s protracted death enabled Palestinian authorities and possible successors to organize themselves, although uncertainty still remains about who will be the permanent replacement. According to The New York Times, two strong possible successors are Mahmood Abbas, the secretary-general of the PLO, and Ahmed Qurei, the prime minister of the Palestinian Authority.
University History Department Visiting Lecturer Louis Fishman, whose scope of expertise includes modern Middle Eastern history, projects the road to leadership for the Palestinians will be a difficult one.
“It’s not so important who immediately succeeds [Arafat]. It’s going to be a process…until it is clear who succeeds him. I believe that the moderate leadership, the PLO, like Hamas, they’ll lead for a year, and then you will see a new leadership come up, either through elections or through power and internal fighting, until we see who the next leader is,” said Fishman.
While he cited an understanding for Arafat’s choice not to name his successor, University Political Science Professor Victor LeVine said that decision is the main reason behind what will become a struggle for power.
“Arafat has the classical dilemma of the archetype,” LeVine said. “If you name a successor, you immediately undermine your own authority, and you open the door to conspiracy against what power you have left. If you do not name a successor and you die, all bets are off after you’re dead. Arafat chose not to name a successor, so the people who are on top…don’t have much power or popular support. All of them are sort of waiting in the wings, but it’s not their fault, it’s Arafat’s.”
Potential Implications for Middle East Peace
Arafat’s death marks the end of an era in the Middle East. There is enormous uncertainty as to what will happen in the region now.
“His death is both an opportunity and a challenge,” Kieval said. “It could result in the opening of a path to a much more successful interaction. It could also open up a period of civil or military unrest, in the West Bank and Gaza-the area controlled by the [Palestinian Authority].”
Kieval explained that the reason for this is a vacuum in leadership of the PA, which is largely due to choices made by Arafat and the PA.
“It’s possible that what will fill this vacuum will be a generation of pragmatic leaders who are ready to step in, who have been ready to assume a position and have been largely hampered in this. People like Mahmud Abbas and Ahmed Qureiye. Both of them represent to me the kind of leadership that is ready to engage in pragmatic negotiations… They have a track record,” Kieval said.
Fishman suggested that anyone who succeeds Arafat will have difficulty accepting a settlement where they concede more than Arafat did.
“Arafat’s successors don’t have his charisma, they’re not symbols,” Fishman said. “Arafat set the way so all the Palestinians have a general consensus that they are going to fight for Jerusalem, that Jerusalem is going to be their capital. No one will accept less than Arafat… If people think that if someone is more moderate, that they will give up more than he did, then they are absolutely wrong. It’s simple ideology, PLO ideology, Arafat’s ideology.”