Yasser Arafat was respected by Palestinians as a leader who symbolized their long search for statehood and independence, although he was regarded by many in the West as deeply flawed, New Zealand Foreign Minister Phil Goff said in an official statement Thursday.

Goff made the comment following the death of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, which was announced earlier Thursday.

Goff met with Arafat at the United Nations in 2001 and at his compound in Ramallah on the West Bank during a visit to the Middle East in May 2003.

Goff said Yasser Arafat was much criticized for inadequacies in his leadership of the Palestinian Authority, but he retained iconic status among Palestinian people because of his long identification as leader of their struggle for their own state and self-determination.

"There was much both to respect and criticize in Yasser Arafat. 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," he said.

"In the end, Yasser Arafat lacked the authority or will to finalize a peace settlement, a failure he shares with the Israeli government," he said.

Goff said Arafat's death was a critical time for the Palestinian people, who must now address the question of his successor.

Goff said the opportunity existed for the emergence of someone who can reform the Authority and advance negotiations toward a peaceful resolution of the Middle East conflict.

"The international community must hope and work for this to occur so that a viable, independent Palestinian state can co-exist in peace alongside Israel," Goff said.

Source: Xinhua