VP at Cairo rites; MILF hails Arafat

Asked by President Arroyo to represent the country, Vice President Noli ‘Kabayan’ de Castro flew to Egypt Thursday night to join leaders of other countries in paying their last respects to Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) leader Yasser Arafat.

Recognized worldwide for his effort in pursuing the national aspirations of the Palestinian people, Arafat died early Thursday morning in a Paris hospital.

“The world mourns the death of a great leader,” de Castro said.

Although the 75-year-old Arafat is described in so many ways, his leadership is undeniably remarkable, worthy to be remembered by future generations.

The former Palestinian leader is most remembered—and received the Nobel Peace Prize—for having led his people in accepting the principle of coexistence between Israel and a future Palestinian state, taking a giant step forward in the realization of this vision by signing the 1993 landmark Middle East accord in Oslo.

De Castro, recently appointed by President Arroyo as her Cabinet Officer for Regional Development (CORD) for the Autonomous Region in Mindanao, is expected to return to Manila over the weekend.

Meanwhile, the head of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) called on Palestinians and their leaders Friday to close ranks in the face of the death of their leader.

“Yasser Arafat is a great leader with courage and determination to fight for the cause of the Palestinian people,” MILF chief al-Haj Ibrahim said in a statement.

“We know how it is to be terribly hit and saddened by the loss of a leader in time of crisis and in the thick of an unfinished bloody struggle to free the Palestinians from the savagery of Israeli occupation,” he added.

At the same time, Murad urged the Palestinian people to carry on the struggle until they achieve their final victory.

Speaking in behalf of the Front and the Moro people in Mindanao, Murad expressed sympathy and prayers for the passing away of Arafat.

Murad recalled the Moro people’s similar experience when Chairman Salamat Hashim, considered “The Father of the MILF,” died in July last year amid turbulent moments in Mindanao.

Like Arafat, Salamat had never wavered in the struggle, spanning four decades, to fight for his people’s right to self-determination, and even on the throes of death, he continued to urge his colleagues to continue the struggle.

The Israelis, on various occasions, were contemplating on assassinating Arafat, accusing him of not only fanning the wave of “suicide bombings” inside occupied territories and right inside Israel but also being a “terrorist”.