"There could be no peace in the Middle East unless a just solution to the issue is found," a Bangladeshi security analyst has said while commenting on the post-Yasser Arafat situation in the Middle East.  

"Everything rests on the only super power the United States and its reelected President George W. Bush," said retired Brigade General Sakhawat Hussain in a commentary published in The Daily Star Friday.

However, he said, it is not Bush alone but most of the hawks within the US administration and think tanks that hold Arafat responsible for deadlocking the Camp David process even when the Oslo peace accords gave him international legitimacy.

Though it is sad to suggest that Arafat is no more in the scene and that might prompt Bush to force Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to start the dialogue and "road map" be revived, much would remain on the "Judaist-Christian" power block both in the United States and Israel who supported Bush over his contender John Kerry, the retired general noted.

Arafat who endured almost five decades of continuous fight for the rights of his nation, is no more there to see the establishment of a future Palestine or to salute the national flagon the top of Dome of Rocks in Jerusalem which was his dream when he left Jerusalem in 1947 at the age of 17.

A big question that now appears to be most crucial is what effect Arafat's demise would have on the Israeli-Palestinian peace process and the future of Palestine.

The fear now is that there is hardly any leader who has the universal or effective appeal within all factions of Palestinian organizations to replace Arafat, Hussain said, adding that it is now the duty of the international community to facilitate election within 60 days as envisaged in the Palestinian constitution to elect a head of the Palestinian National Authorities.

"We, the Bangladeshis, who have always been steadfast supporter of Arafat's struggle to see him establish an acceptable peaceful Palestine would remain supportive of that cause whoever takes his mantle," Hussain said.

Muhammad Zamir, a former Bangladeshi ambassador, believed the next few weeks will be "critical for Palestine."

He said in a commentary published in Dhaka Friday that the fate of Palestine will require an astute leadership that will be acceptable not only to the reelected Bush administration but also to the European Union.

Emotion will obviously have a role to play, he said, adding that this must however be tempered by cool and rational decision-making abilities.

The Palestinian people will hopefully choose their leaders who already enjoy international credibility with regard to transparency, financial accountability and desire for peace, the former diplomat said.

He added the militant groups will also have to understand that their frustration over emergence of independent statehood "can only be achieved through dialogue and not through the barrel of a gun."

(Xinhua News Agency November 12, 2004)