Blair pays tribute to Arafat
Members of the Government and leading political parties have paid tribute to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, following his death earlier this morning.
Prime Minister Tony Blair passed on his condolences to President Arafat’s family as well as restating the need to achieve peace in the Middle East.
Foreign Secretary Jack Straw echoed the Prime Minister’s words and said it would be hard to imagine the Middle East without Arafat.
Conservative leader Michael Howard said there would be a deep sense of loss amongst the Palestinian people, while Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy described his passing as a critical moment in world politics.
President Arafat, 75, had been in a coma for over a week and suffered a brain haemorrhage along with kidney and liver failure. The cause of his death has not been revealed.
Mr Blair said Arafat had come to symbolise the Palestinian national movement.
He said: “He led his people to an historic acceptance of the need for a two-state solution.
“That goal of a viable Palestinian state alongside a secure Israel is one that we must continue to work tirelessly to achieve. Peace in the Middle East must be the international community’s highest priority.
“We will do whatever we can, working with the US and the EU to help the parties reach a fair and durable settlement.”
The Foreign Secretary said Arafat had died knowing that the international community had committed itself to a viable Palestinian state.
“President Arafat played such a dominant role on behalf of the Palestinians over so many decades that it is hard to imagine the Middle East without him,” said Mr Straw.
“As the leader of his people, he created an international awareness of, and concern about, the plight of the Palestinian people. He displayed unquestionable devotion to his work.”
Mr Howard said Arafat sought to stand up for the interests of the Palestinian people. “But it will be for history to judge whether the failure to achieve a Palestinian state existing alongside Israel – something which I believe is both desirable and inevitable – was the failure of circumstance or of will.”
Mr Kennedy said that despite his past terrorist activities, Arafat would be remembered as the individual who helped steer the Palestinians closer to a sustained and recognised homeland than might have seemed imaginable.
“It was tragic that he chose not to go the extra mile when so much was on offer to him – with all the resultant chaos and carnage that has ensued,” he said.
“It is obviously vital that the Palestinian authorities establish a new leadership, one which may offer – in conjunction with the re-elected US Presidency – fresh, constructive hope for revisiting and restarting the Middle East Road Map. This will require a genuine recommitment from the government of Israel as well.”
