RAMALLAH, West Bank (AFP) - Palestinians began preparing for an election to choose a successor to Yasser Arafat as somber prayers were said at the graveside of the leader who spearheaded their fight for an independent homeland.
Palestinian prime minister Ahmed Qorei said a presidential election would go ahead before January 9 as prescribed by Palestinian basic law, and called for a global effort to help jumpstart the stalled Middle East peace process.
In Washington, US President George W. Bush pledged he would mobilize the international community to work towards the creation of a Palestinian state.
"I am saying to the US administration, to President Bush, to the Israelis and to the world: 'Now is the period in which we should be more serious'," Qorei told reporters in the West Bank town of Ramallah.
"Everybody has to reconsider their positions. The Palestinian and Israeli people have the same right of existing in peace. If everybody is determined, we can do it in a very short time."
Israel announced that Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom would travel to Washington Saturday night for talks with Secretary of State Colin Powell that were tentatively scheduled for Monday.
Earlier Qorei, newly appointed Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) chairman Mahmud Abbas, and the caretaker head of the Palestinian Authority Rawhi Fattuh knelt at Arafat's marble tomb in solemn prayer, a stark contrast to Friday's scenes of mayhem at the Muqataa compound.
Arafat's nephew Nasser al-Qidwa, the Palestinian representatives to the United Nations, also attended the intimate morning prayer service for the start of Eid al-Fitr festivities marking the end of the holy month of Ramadan.
Afterwards, ordinary Palestinians trickled past the burial site, reciting verses from the Koran and kneeling at the grave of the only leader most of them had ever known, a man who championed their cause for two generations.
Arafat, who died on Thursday in a French hospital at the age of 75, was laid to rest Friday at his West Bank headquarters in a raucous display of grief, as thousands stormed into the Muqataa to catch a last glimpse of their leader.
His death has been seen by many as an opportunity to revive the moribund Middle East peace process, and in Washington on Friday, Bush -- Israel's top ally -- promised to rally the international community to the cause.
"I believe we've got a great chance to establish a Palestinian state. I would like to see it done in four years. I think it is possible," Bush said after a summit with British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
Blair insisted that the first priority was to "make sure that the Palestinian elections take place."
The central election committee said a precise date for the polls had yet to be set and asked for international help to register voters in occupied east Jerusalem, where it said Israel had blocked the process.
"I hope Europe and the United States will stand shoulder-to-shoulder with us in order to carry out the presidential elections," Palestinian negotiations minister Saeb Erakat told AFP.
"If we can do that, the transition will be smooth and will take the Palestinians towards democracy, pluralism and peace."
In an interview with AFP, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said he was "convinced that the elections will take place within the (60-day) timeframe set out by Palestinian basic law" and pledged EU support for the election process.
A poll conducted last month showed that Arafat had been likely to secure certain re-election, with jailed West Bank Fatah leader Marwan Barghuti the second most popular choice.
Despite the five consecutive life terms imposed by an Israeli court, Barghuti is mulling a bid for the Palestinian presidency, his wife Fadwa told AFP, but she said his candidacy would depend on Fatah, Arafat's mainstream faction.
"Discussions have started and it should be clear if Marwan will become the candidate for Fatah within one or two weeks," she told AFP.
Since coming to power in early 2001, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon had boycotted Arafat, rejecting him as an unsuitable partner for peace.
But Sharon met several times with Abbas during his brief stint as prime minister last year, and the new PLO leader also earned favor in Washington.
The United States, the European Union, Russia and the United Nations -- the so-called Middle East diplomatic quartet -- are the sponsors of the troubled peace roadmap that foresees the creation of a Palestinian state in 2005.
But that deadline has been all but scuppered after four years of deadly violence.

11/13/2004 - 17:58 GMT - AFP