Brussels, 15/11/2004 (Agence Europe) The Dutch presidency of the European Union said that it was very satisfied with the current process for Yasser Arafat's succession in the Palestinian territories. Bernard Bot, the Dutch foreign affairs minister stated during a meeting with the press in The Hague that, "we are very satisfied with the temporary transfer of power (which is happening) calmly and peacefully". According to the minister, quoted by AFP, it is very important to have a "democratically elected leadership". Mr Bot added that this leadership should demonstrate that it was willing and able to begin negotiations with Israel.
The Palestinian minister of foreign affairs Nabil Chaath indicated on the same day that there would be consensus in Fatah so that Mahmoud Abbas, the PLO number 1, was its official presidential candidate in the election on9 January 2005. The Israelis are afraid that the shooting on Sunday in Gaza is not the prelude to a violent war of succession to Mr Arafat. Addressing an official from the Israeli Council presidency, who wanted to remain anonymous, AFP declared that this incident illustrated that there is a power struggle and that before the elections, the first objective of the new leadership should be disarming the gangs which are imposing their reign of chaos and anarchy.