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February 15, 2002/Adar 3 5762, Vol. 54, No. 22
Arafat lists possible successors
GIL SEDAN
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
JERUSALEM - Something is happening to the man who used to be described as the "cat with seven souls."
Yasser Arafat, 72, president of the Palestinian Authority and "symbol of the Palestinian revolution," is now talking about his own mortality.
Arafat recently told one of the many groups of admirers who visited him in his besieged Ramallah headquarters that he would come to a liberated Jerusalem, either as a victor or a shahid, the Arabic term for martyr.
Then, meeting last week with journalists from the Gulf states and Egypt, Arafat mentioned two of his potential successors - Ahmed Karia, the speaker of the Palestine legislative council, and Arafat's deputy, Mahmoud Abbas.
The statement won headlines because discussion of life after Arafat is considered taboo in Palestinian society. Yet the Israeli daily Ha'aretz noted that Arafat merely was reminding his interviewers of the established succession procedures for his dual roles as head of the Palestinian Authority - which governs Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip - and of the PLO, which represents Palestinians both there and in the Diaspora.
Still, the statement was seen as Arafat's way of responding to growing Israeli pressure to replace him, a demand that has failed to win international backing.
President Bush did not support the idea of replacing Arafat when he met last week with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in Washington. The forum of foreign ministers of the European Union, which met at the same time, reiterated its recognition of Arafat as the leader of the Palestinian people.
Some analysts say Arafat is more popular than during the days when he traveled the world on behalf of the Palestinian people. He receives daily delegations of support from the international community, and many Palestinians draw analogies between Arafat's personal state of siege and the general situation in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
A "tent of support" was erected in Gaza, and has become the focus of daily gatherings that draw even leaders of the Hamas opposition.
Hamas leaders have been given a virtual green light for their terror attacks against Israelis. Following Israel Air Force attacks on Nablus last week, prison doors were opened to release Hamas prisoners, and mobs that attacked prisons in Jenin and Hebron - encountering no opposition from the guards - released scores more.
As a result, national unity in the West Bank and Gaza Strip is blooming.
Almost everyone who knows Arafat rules out the possibility of him resigning. Uri Avneri, leader of the Israeli far-left group Gush Shalom, said he has never seen Arafat as vibrant and confident as he was on Avneri's visit three weeks ago - though Ha'aretz journalist Tom Segev, who also attended, came away with an impression of Arafat as broken and demoralized.
Arafat is married and has a daughter, but he hardly sees his family, who spend most of their time in Paris. He is devoted to his post, generally working late into the night, and reportedly has few interests but his job.
It has been this way ever since Arafat formed the Fatah movement in Cairo in 1964. Indeed, for years he even refused to marry, saying he already was wedded - to Palestine.
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