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 has 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 right 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.
China stands ready to work with the Palestinian side to further boost friendly relations, the Chinese president said.
French President Jacques Chirac said in a statement that "it is with emotion that I have just 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."
Arafat was "the man of courage and conviction," who had embodied the Palestinian struggle for statehood for the past four decades, Chirac said.
"Firmly and with conviction," France will maintain its commitment to two states that live side by side in peace and security, the statement said.
The French government is holding an emergency ministers' meeting to discuss the transportation of Arafat's body to Cairo, where a funeral is to be held on Friday. After the memorial service, Arafat will be laid down to rest at his headquarters in the West Bank city of Ramallah.
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.
"For the Palestinian people, we hope that the future will bring peace and the fulfillment of their aspirations for an independent, democratic Palestine that is at peace with its neighbors," the statement said.
The US government urges "all in the region and throughout the world to join in helping make progress toward these goals and toward the ultimate goal of peace," Bush said.
Spokesman for the Arab League Hossam Zaki 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.