World leaders on Thursday expressed their condolences over the death of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat who died earlier in the day at a French military hospital outside Paris after battling his illness for more than two weeks.   

Chinese President Hu Jintao sent a letter of condolences to Rawhi Fattuh, speaker of the Palestine Legislative Council, on Arafat's death.

"His passing away was a great loss for Palestinians," Hu said. "The Chinese people have lost a great friend."

Hu hailed Arafat as a great leader and an outstanding politician who had dedicated his whole life to the just cause of regaining the lawful rights of the Palestinian people.

Arafat enjoys profound respect among the Palestinian people and great prestige in the international community, Hu added.

Hu expressed the conviction that the Palestinian government and people will carry forward Arafat's uncompleted causes, continue to advance the peace process in the Middle East, and exert unremitting efforts to resolve the Middle East issue through political means.

French President Jacques Chirac said in a statement, "It is with emotion that I learnt of the death of President Yasser Arafat. I offer my very sincere condolences to his family and to people close to him."

"To the Palestinian people, I want to express at this moment of mourning the friendship of France and the French people," he said.

Arafat was "a man of courage and conviction," who had embodied the Palestinian struggle for statehood for the past four decades, Chirac said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin also sent a message of condolences to the Palestinian leadership on the death of Arafat.

"This is a grievous loss for the Palestinian leadership, for all Palestinians," Putin said in his message that emphasized that Arafat's death "is a grievous loss for the Palestinian leadership, for all Palestinians."

Arafat "dedicated his entire life to the just cause of the Palestinian people, to the struggle for the exercise of their inalienable right to establish an independent state co-existing with Israel in peace within safe and recognized borders," the message said.

A spokesman for UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said the UN chief was "deeply moved to learn of the death of President Yasser Arafat."

"For nearly four decades, he expressed and symbolized in person the national aspirations of the Palestinian people," the spokesman said.

Annan urged both Israelis and Palestinians as well as friends of both peoples to "make even greater efforts to bring about the peaceful realization of the Palestinian right of self-determination."

US President George W. Bush also expressed condolences over Arafat's death.

"The death of Yasser Arafat is a significant moment in Palestinian history. We express our condolences to the Palestinian people," Bush said in a statement.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair has sent his condolences to the family of Arafat over his death.

"President Arafat came to symbolize the Palestinian national movement," Blair said in a statement.

"He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1994 jointly with Yitzhak Rabin in recognition of their efforts to achieve peace in the Middle East. He led his people to an historic acceptance of the need for a two-state solution," Blair said.

"That goal of a viable Palestinian state alongside a secure Israel is one that we must continue to work tirelessly to achieve. Peace in the Middle East must be international community's highest priority," he added.

Other British politicians also paid their tributes to Arafat with Foreign Secretary Jack Straw saying it would be "hard to imagine the Middle East without" Arafat.

Also on Thursday, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder sent a letter to Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmad Qurei, expressing his condolences over Arafat's death.

"I express to you, also on behalf of my countrymen, my sincere sympathy to the huge loss that the Palestinian people have suffered through the death of the President," Schroeder said in the letter.

Arafat pursued in all his life "the independence of the Palestinian people" and a "sovereign and viable Palestinian state," he added.

Hossam Zaki, spokesman for the Arab League, said Arafat's death is "a great loss, not only to the Palestinian cause but to the Arab world."

"Arafat was the embodiment of the Palestinian question and his absence will certainly be greatly felt," Zaki said.

New Zealand Foreign Minister Phil Goff said Arafat "symbolized Palestinians' long search for statehood and independence."

"His achievement was to win acknowledgment for the existence of the Palestinian nation and to advocate for the rights of a dispossessed and disadvantaged people," Goff said in a statement.

In Indonesia, a government spokesman hailed Arafat as a "hero to us all."

"He was the ultimate embodiment of decades of the just struggle of a nation for its undeniable rights to self determination," Foreign Ministry spokesman Marty Natalegawa said.

Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi called Arafat "a pioneer who had laid out the foundation for the establishment of a Palestinian state."

"I sincerely hope the Palestinians overcome their sorrow and continue with their effort toward achieving peace and prosperity in the region," Koizumi said in a statement.

Also on Thursday, European Commission President Romano Prodi Thursday extended his "most sincere condolences" on the passing away of Arafat.

"The Palestinians have lost a leader who symbolized their aspirations of a Palestinian state," Prodi said in a message sent to Ahmad Qurei, prime minister of the Palestinian Authority, and Rawhi Fattuh, speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council.

"The European Commission wishes to express its continued commitment to a resolution of the Middle East conflict. The Commission is working with the Palestinian Authority toward this goal and toward ensuring a peaceful and democratic transition in the days and weeks to come," the message said.

Through a statement of the South African foreign ministry on Thursday, South African President Thabo Mbeki said the demise of Arafat was difficult to accept.

"History would show Arafat epitomized a breed of leaders whose lives were defined by sacrifices they made in the struggle of their peoples," Mbeki said.

He said he will attend the funeral of Arafat in Cairo to join the international community in expressing sorrow and sadness at the death of the icon of the Palestinian struggle.

In his message of condolence sent to Fattuh, Italian President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi said the name of Arafat will be etched in history for his unwavering commitment to the Palestinian cause.

"President Arafat was a symbol of the legitimate aspiration of the Palestinian people to have their dignity and rights recognized. His unwavering commitment to the cause of the Palestinian people will remain in history," Ciampi said in the message.

For some 20 years Arafat "was an important talking partner for the international community in the search for a just and lasting solution to the Mideast conflict," he said.

Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer said he had learned of the death of his brother, friend, and statesman Arafat with great sadness. Arafat "carried his nation's struggle to the international level and contributed to the friendly ties between Turkey and Palestine. His death has created deep sorrow in Turkey."

He added that Arafat will also be remembered for his efforts to make peace in the Middle East.

Also on Thursday, Tunisian President Zine El-abidine Ben Ali, Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski, Bangladesh President Iazuddin Ahmed and other world leaders sent messages to Palestinian leaders to express their condolences and speak highly of Arafat.

(Xinhua News Agency November 12, 2004)