President Eddie Fenech Adami left Malta early this morning for Cairo to attend today's funeral of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, who died yesterday.
Dr Fenech Adami is accompanied by Foreign Minister Michael Frendo.
Dr Fenech Adami told The Times Mr Arafat personified the ambitions of Palestinian people, who identified with him.
"One can describe him as a man of great conviction for an independent state and he dedicated his life towards achieving this goal. He did not see it in his lifetime but, no doubt, the Palestinian state is more possible now than it ever was.
"One cannot agree with the means he sometimes adopted but one has to understand his aims. He fought for the independence and sovereignty of his homeland," Dr Fenech Adami said. "He passed through very difficult periods and history will recognise him as a person who read the signs of the times, even though one may not always agree with the methods he used with conviction in fighting for his homeland," he added.
Opposition leader Alfred Sant said Mr Arafat was the symbol, the cornerstone and the driving force of the Palestinian people in its heroic struggle for national freedom.
Dr Sant said the news of his death filled people with sorrow and the Malta Labour Party recognised the work done by Mr Arafat in fighting for Palestinian rights.
"He struggled in tough conditions, against intransigent opponents who were stronger both militarily as well as diplomatically," Dr Sant said.
Mr Arafat was a person who led when negotiations were possible as well as when the only way forward was through resistance. "If Arafat did not manage to win freedom for his people, he managed to give them dignity as well as popular and diplomatic recognition throughout the world.
"The Labour Party offers its condolences to his family and the Palestinian people and will remain committed to the Palestinian cause and the just aspirations of the Palestinian people," Dr Sant said.
Labour's spokesman for foreign affairs, Leo Brincat, said Mr Arafat's death was a great loss to the Palestinian movement, to which he gave a sense of status.
"One hopes that in his absence, the Palestinian movement will remain united and I hope that there will be no excuse not to negotiate with the Palestinians.
"The road map should now have definite time scales and targets. The way Arafat was treated over the past three years was very deplorable. But in the long run, this strengthened his position and that of the Palestinian movement," Mr Brincat said.
The international secretary of the Nationalist Party, Jason Azzopardi, said his party expressed deep regret over Mr Arafat's death. The PN hoped the efforts to establish a Palestinian state would continue. He expressed his condolences to Mr Arafat's family and the Palestinian people.