In the West Bank, the political wings of Hamas and Islamic Jihad have been winning elections on college campuses and in local labor organizations in recent years, taking over hundreds of positions from Arafat's secular Fatah movement. But in the past, Hamas has refused to participate in the Palestinian Authority elections established in the 1993 Oslo peace accords.
In meetings with Prime Minister Qureia, Palestinian security forces and militant organizations on Saturday in Gaza City, Hamas officials said any leadership coalition established to succeed Arafat should include representatives of all Palestinian factions. Such a move would almost certainly be opposed by Israel, the United States and other nations unless the Islamic group agrees to give up its violent attacks against Israel.
Mohammed Dahlan, 43, a former security chief in the Gaza Strip is one of several vying to replace Yasser Aradfat as the Palestinian leader.
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Arafat's absence could also aggravate the division between the 3.6 million Palestinians who live in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and those who live outside the territories, including the 2.5 million Palestinians classified as refugees by the U.N. Relief and Works Agency in Jordan, Syria and Lebanon.
Arafat, who has spent the past decade in the Palestinian territories but lived elsewhere for the previous 27 years, represented the interests of both groups as president of the governing Palestinian Authority and chairman of the international Palestine Liberation Organization, which represents Palestinian groups here and abroad.
With those two organizations under the control of different men, some Palestinian officials said refugees were concerned they could get shortchanged in any peace settlement, particularly on the issue of the so-called right of return -- the priority of refugees who want to reclaim homes inside Israel that they or their families left years ago.
Israeli officials said they hoped the death of Arafat would open the way for more moderate Palestinians to take over the leadership of the government and its related political organizations, including Fatah and the PLO. But most senior Israeli officials are reluctant to mention names, saying that any Palestinian leader who received Israeli backing would be treated with scorn and distrust on the street.
The current and former Palestinian prime ministers, Qureia, known as Abu Ala, and Abbas, known as Abu Mazen, are well regarded by most Israeli officials because of their strong stand against suicide bombings and other violence, and for their efforts to try to persuade Arafat to accept democratic reforms and relinquish his control over Palestinian security organizations.
"I do hope people like Abu Mazen and Abu Ala will take his place, but I am afraid it is too early to say," said Steinitz, the chairman of the Israeli foreign affairs and defense committee. "But it's not certain even if there is a moderate leadership that they will be able to change the reality on the spot."
"I don't think the problem lies in our divisions," said Abu Amr, the reformist Palestinian legislator, adding that improvements in Palestinian governance will hinge on Israel's efforts to allow a new process to evolve and on the work of future Palestinian leaders. "Everything depends on how the Palestinian leadership leads, whether they touch the hearts and minds of the Palestinian people, whether they solve problems and break the deadlock with the Israelis and repair relations with the world and bring back support to the Palestinians. One man alone cannot do it. Even Arafat himself could not do it."
