Palestinian President Yasser Arafat made a rare acknowledgement of mistakes under his rule today and urged reforms to end corruption after an unprecedented wave of turmoil.
It was his first such admission since internal unrest blew up last month in the greatest challenge to his authority since he returned from exile a decade ago.
"There is nobody immune from mistakes, starting from me on down. Even prophets committed mistakes," said a confident-looking Mr Arafat at his West Bank compound in his first speech to lawmakers since the troubles began.
But while he urged efforts to correct "all the mistakes", Mr Arafat made no specific promises to satisfy demands for reforms from Palestinians frustrated at the failure of their leaders to win statehood, assuage economic crisis or assure law and order.
Mr Arafat, still seen by Palestinians as a symbol of the struggle for a state in the West Bank and Gaza, was not personally targeted or accused of corruption by protesters.
"There were wrong actions ... by some institutions, and some were irresponsible and misused their positions," the veteran Palestinian leader said. "We need to move together to correct and reform all the mistakes."
