Yasser Arafat

RAMALLAH, West Bank -- Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas dedicated Yasser Arafat's sleek new mausoleum in a ceremony yesterday, drawing on his predecessor's continued popularity as he heads into peace negotiations with Israel. The dedication of the mausoleum, on the third anniversary of Arafat's death, was meant to boost Abbas' legitimacy as he faces a stiff challenge from the rival Hamas. Arafat died at age 75 in a French military hospital, after spending his final years under Israeli siege at his West Bank headquarters.

RAMALLAH, West Bank -- Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas sharpened the war of words against his Hamas rivals yesterday, saying it was time to "bring down" the militant group's regime in the Gaza Strip. Abbas' comments against Hamas, whose fighters defeated his Fatah faction to take control of Gaza five months ago, reflected his anger over a deadly clash in the coastal enclave earlier this week. "We have to bring down this bunch which took over the Gaza Strip by force and which is trading on the suffering and misery of our people," Abbas said in broadcast remarks marking the 19th anniversary of the Palestinian declaration of independence.

THE ANGEL of death walked into a seaside hotel in Israel, killing 21 in a suicide bombing at a Passover dinner. He moved to a remote Jewish settlement in the West Bank, then a Jerusalem supermarket. In 72 hours this week, 29 Israelis died at the hands of Palestinian militants. All this as an American peace envoy struggled to mediate a cease-fire, as the Arab world extended an extraordinary offer of peace and recognition to Israel in exchange for withdrawing from occupied lands and forging an independent Palestinian state.

RAMALLAH, West Bank -- Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas dedicated Yasser Arafat's sleek new mausoleum in a ceremony yesterday, drawing on his predecessor's continued popularity as he heads into peace negotiations with Israel. The dedication of the mausoleum, on the third anniversary of Arafat's death, was meant to boost Abbas' legitimacy as he faces a stiff challenge from the rival Hamas. Arafat died at age 75 in a French military hospital, after spending his final years under Israeli siege at his West Bank headquarters.

Yasser Arafat, the leader and most famous symbol of Palestinian nationalism for nearly 40 years, died early today in a French military hospital near Paris. His death deprived Palestinians of the figure who led and shaped their long, often-violent campaign to obtain international recognition as a people and their quest to govern themselves in an independent state. Mr. Arafat, 75, died after suffering a brain hemorrhage and multiple organ failure, two weeks after falling seriously ill at his presidential compound in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

WASHINGTON - Having come to despise Yasser Arafat toward the end of his life, the Bush administration was not about to praise him in death. In a statement last night, President Bush said, "The death of Yasser Arafat is a significant moment in Palestinian history," omitting any judgment on the Palestinian leader. "We express our condolences to the Palestinian people." "During the period of transition that is ahead, we urge all in the region and throughout the world to join in helping make progress toward these goals and toward the ultimate goal of peace."

PARIS - Yasser Arafat's longtime personal physician called yesterday for an autopsy on the deceased Palestinian leader, saying he was baffled and angered by the French medical team's failure to diagnose Arafat's illness. Ashraf al Kurdi, who was a friend and doctor to Arafat for 25 years, also said he was "disappointed" in the care that French doctors gave Arafat. "They did not care even to phone me and ask for his medical history," he said in a phone interview from his Jordan home. "I am very disappointed in their care for him, and I cannot understand this lack of an explanation for his death.

JERUSALEM - For many Israelis, Yasser Arafat's death yesterday brought hope that his successors will find a way to end the violence that Israelis believed he encouraged or was unwilling to stop. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, without mentioning Arafat by name, expressed cautious optimism that relations with the Palestinians might improve. "Recent events are likely to constitute a turning point in Middle Eastern history," Sharon said. "I hope the new Palestinian leadership ... will understand that progress in relations and in the resolution of problems depends, first and foremost, on the cessation of terrorism.

RAMALLAH, West Bank - Palestinians embarked on a new, uncertain path yesterday with the swift, smooth swearing-in of new leadership after the death of Yasser Arafat. Rawi Fattouh, speaker of the Palestinian parliament, was sworn in as acting president of the Palestinian Authority, the government formerly led by Arafat, until elections are held within the next 60 days. Mahmoud Abbas, a former prime minister who advocated nonviolence, took Arafat's place as chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization.

RAMALLAH, West Bank -- A fleet of trucks and bulldozers had lumbered into place yesterday afternoon, and aimed for a small grove of cypress trees, shoving aside the rusted remains of junked cars along the way. By dusk, most of the debris was cleared. The cypress trees still stood, on the edge of a concrete parking lot, in the shadow of the presidential compound. Sullen-faced members of the presidential guard sat slumped on a wall and watched. The workers were clearing space, in the sparse shade of the cypress trees -- for Yasser Arafat's grave.

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip -- Their fingers on the triggers of their assault rifles, their eyes alert for danger, Ashraf Hamed and Abu Bara stood shoulder to shoulder yesterday at a Gaza City intersection, vowing to serve and protect fellow Palestinians. But first they might need to protect themselves from each other. Hamed, 18, a fresh-faced Palestinian Authority security officer, is one of thousands of gunmen loyal to President Mahmoud Abbas and his Fatah Party. Bara, 23, a bearded member of a new, 3,000-strong Hamas security force, answers only to Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh.

IF ONLY IT were so. If only it were still 2003 and President Bush could plausibly argue that progress was on the march in Iraq. If only it made sense to contend that the war in Iraq was revenge for 9/11 and Madrid and Bali. If only it were somehow believable that the president sees a way to bring the conflict in Iraq to a peaceful and triumphant conclusion. But it's not so. Mr. Bush addressed the nation last night in an attempt to rally support for his policy on Iraq, and instead it became disturbingly clear that the events of the past two years have barely made an impression on him. He was right about one thing: that an abrupt U.S. withdrawal from Iraq would be a humiliating disaster.

MAHMOUD ABBAS is expected in Washington this week for the first visit to the White House by a Palestinian Authority president in years. He can distinguish himself from his predecessor - Yasser Arafat, whom Mr. Bush refused to see - by highlighting his accomplishments on security matters, identifying pragmatic ways the administration can help improve Palestinian lives and pressing the president on the prospects for peace after the Israeli withdrawal from...

JERUSALEM - Hopeful times have been here before. It was just 18 months ago when Mahmoud Abbas, then the Palestinian prime minister, stood with his Israeli counterpart, Ariel Sharon, and talked of a new day in which political dialogue would supplant violence. Two months later, in September 2003, Abbas resigned, saying Israel, the United States and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat had undermined his authority. An Israeli-Palestinian cease-fired dissolved, Sharon refused to meet with Abbas' successor and hope quickly turned into despair.

JERUSALEM - A sudden rise in Palestinian attacks from the Gaza Strip has presented the Israeli government with a difficult choice: send in the Israeli army for a confrontation with militant groups or give the days-old Palestinian government led by Mahmoud Abbas time to restore order on its own. Abbas, while offering no details yesterday, directed his security forces to end the violence in Gaza - the attacks that now involve mortars and primitive, short-range...

JERUSALEM - Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, who had clashed with Yasser Arafat by opposing attacks against Israel, declared victory last night in the election for president of the Palestinian Authority. His substantial margin over six other candidates, as projected by three exit polls, could give him the mandate he sought for reforming a notoriously corrupt Palestinian government and restarting peace negotiations with Israel. The exit polls showed Abbas, 69, a former prime minister, winning about 68 percent of the vote.

RAMALLAH, West Bank - Palestinians buried Yasser Arafat here yesterday amid chaos and outpourings of grief, after mourners firing guns in the air engulfed the helicopter that carried his flag-draped casket from his funeral in Cairo and briefly wrested the coffin from an honor guard. Crying, screaming and fighting to get closer, members of the crowd overwhelmed police early on and climbed the walls of the presidential compound, awaiting two Egyptian helicopters carrying Arafat's body and some of the Palestinian leader's longtime aides.

WASHINGTON - President Bush moved cautiously yesterday into the post-Yasser Arafat era of Middle East diplomacy, dispatching a modest delegation to the Palestinian leader's funeral and giving little sign of a strong U.S. peacemaking role in the near future. Despite Secretary of State Colin L. Powell's statement early this week that the United States is ready to move "actively" on an international peace plan, a senior U.S. official said yesterday that much would hinge on the capability of Arafat's successors.

QALQILIYA, West Bank - Flanked by sprinting policemen, the convoy of dusty black Mercedes sedans careened into the muddy soccer field and stopped in front of a stage built that morning. The man likely to be the next president of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, cautiously emerged from one of the cars, as if taken aback by seeing supporters surge forward and hearing them chant his name. Abbas, 69, a candidate all too clearly uncomfortable working a crowd, is laboring to make himself an inspiring leader, to generate excitement among people not sure whether the presidential election set for Jan. 9 is an opportunity for genuine change.

EL-BIREH, West Bank - The front-runner in next month's election to succeed Yasser Arafat as Palestinian leader, Mahmoud Abbas, launched his campaign yesterday, appealing to voters who worry that he might surrender core tenets of their long fight for statehood. The silver-haired, pragmatic 69-year-old reassured a hall filled with 800 supporters in a municipal building here, paying homage to Yasser Arafat and using language to please militant ears, while not repudiating previous moderate statements.