Abbas to follow Arafat's path

2004-11-23 22:10

Ramallah - New PLO chief Mahmud Abbas pledged to follow in the footsteps of Yasser Arafat on Tuesday after he was picked by the dominant Fatah faction as its candidate to succeed the late Palestinian leader.

"We promise that we will continue on the same path that you (Arafat) have paved to achieve the dream that has always lived with you... establishing an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital," Abbas told a special session of parliament to honour the late leader.

"We will not fall silent until our right of return is exercised and the plight of the refugees is solved," he added.

Abbas was unanimously adopted by Fatah's decision-making central committee at a meeting late on Monday, a move which will be rubber-stamped by the Revolutionary Council on Thursday.

He is now the overwhelming favourite to win the January 9 election to succeed Arafat as president of the Palestinian Authority, especially as the militant Islamist movement Hamas has decided to boycott the poll.

Abbas, a former prime minister, took over from Arafat as head of the Palestine Liberation Organisation in the immediate aftermath of his death on November 11.

Huge task

Arafat's death and the emergence of the moderate Abbas as the new effective leader have encouraged hopes that Arafat's death could lead to a revival of the moribund Middle East peace process.

But his insistence on the right of return for Palestinian refugees who were expelled or forced to flee their homes when Israel was created in 1948, illustrates the scale of the task facing the peace process.

The main international sponsors of the roadmap, a peace plan endorsed by Israel and the Palestinians last year that aims to create a Palestinian state in 2005, met in Egypt on Tuesday on the sidelines of an international conference on Iraq as part of a flurry of diplomatic activity.

"We are all encouraged. We reaffirmed our determination to work with the Palestinian leadership to support the election" to choose a successor to Arafat, UN chief Kofi Annan told reporters.

US secretary of state Colin Powell on Monday hailed a "moment of opportunity" for peace in the Middle East after meeting with both Abbas and Sharon.

As part of the frenzy of diplomacy, Israel also announced that British foreign secretary Jack Straw would visit on Wednesday.

- AFP