European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana pledged today to help the Palestinians conduct elections after Yasser Arafat's death and urged Israel to clear the way with a troop pullback from the West Bank.
"You can be sure that we are going to do the utmost in all the fields to help economically, help in the elections, help also with the security elements," Mr Solana told reporters in the West Bank city of Ramallah shortly after Arafat's burial.
The Palestinians named Rawhi Fattouh as their interim president on Thursday after Arafat's death and promised to call elections within 60 days according to law. Israel had shunned Arafat, accusing him of fomenting violence in a four-year-old Palestinian uprising.
The Palestinian president, a symbol of his people's struggle for statehood, had always denied the allegation. Arafat's passing yesterday and the rise of a new leadership has raised a glimmer of hope for renewed peace efforts. "I would like to see the Israelis give their trust and confidence to these new people," Mr Solana told CNN.
"They need to do their job also and to withdraw from some of the places, alleviate the conditions of living of the people and to allow the elections to take place."