UNITED NATIONS – The announced representation at Yasser Arafat’s Cairo funeral today reads like a map of political attitudes among world leaders, with Arab nations and leftist regimes sending heads of state and European states sending foreign ministers, while America, former Soviet bloc nations, and Australia have opted for low-level representation.

The difference in assessing Arafat’s life – as the father of modern terrorism or as the leader of a national movement – was behind decisions to afford him in death head-of-state treatment or the cold shoulder.

At the United Nations, where the Palestinian Arabs have observer status, the world body’s flag was lowered to half-staff on First Avenue yesterday, as it is when a head of state dies. Observer status is lower than that of a member state. Secretary-General Annan said he would not go to Cairo, with aides citing lack of proper transportation.

For staunch allies of President Bush, like Prime Minister Howard of Australia, no excuses were needed.

“There would be appropriate representation [at the funeral] but it certainly would not be at ministerial level,” Mr. Howard assured reporters in Canberra even before yesterday morning’s official announcement of Arafat’s death.

Most of the Arab world will be represented at the level of kings, presidents for life, and other heads of states at today’s funeral, which will be hosted by President Mubarak of Egypt and attended by most of the Palestinian Arab leadership, as well as Arafat’s widow, Suha.

Israel, which was mostly busy bracing itself yesterday for the possibility of renewed violence associated with Arafat’s funeral, will not have any official representation in Cairo.

[Police in Israel prepared to raise their alert level to war status, according to a report on the Jerusalem Post’s Web site last night. The police force this morning will go on Operation Alert Level D, which was last used two years ago following threats Saddam Hussein made to launch missiles against Israel, as America prepared to invade Iraq.]

Even most Knesset members associated with the left are expected to shun the world gathering, as well as tomorrow’s Ramallah burial for the man who most Israelis have considered an enemy for over four decades.

Israeli politicians expressed anger at some European death announcements yesterday, like that of Spain’s leftist government, which praised Arafat as “one of the most relevant leaders of our time.” The Jerusalem Post cited unnamed officials there who dubbed the Spanish statement as Europe’s “worst.”

Some far left Israeli activists, like the head of the Gush Shalom group Uri Avneri, decided to attend the funeral anyway. They were asked by Jerusalem to sign a waiver removing all government responsibility for their safety. Israeli press reports cited security officials who said they intercepted threat notices to any Israeli attending the Cairo event.

Mr. Bush, who yesterday offered a very careful condolences statement, will be represented at the Cairo funeral by the assistant secretary of state and Middle East troubleshooter William Burns, and by the consul general in Jerusalem, David Pearce, who deals with daily Palestinian Arab relations, and whose rank is lower than that of Daniel Kurtz, the American ambassador in Tel Aviv.

Like most of Europe, Britain will be represented by its foreign minister, Jack Straw. Prime Minister Blair, Mr. Bush’s closest ally in Iraq, arrived to Washington yesterday and will fly to Camp David over the weekend, where he will be the first post-election foreign guest of the president.

Mr. Blair, who, even before Arafat’s ailment, called on Mr. Bush to reinvigorate the “peace process” between Israelis and Palestinian Arabs, yesterday released a statement through a spokesman. “What is important from the Washington meeting is that we send a signal of intent to the region to drive the process forward,” it said.

The Palestinian Arab leadership, meanwhile, wasted no time consolidating the transfer of power from Arafat’s one-man rule to a government shared by several power brokers. Speaker of parliament, Rawhi Fattouh, was sworn in as acting president and promised elections within 60 days. The former prime minister, Mahmoud Abbas, was elected chairman of the Palestinian Liberation Organization, while Ahmed Qurei continues to hold the title of prime minister.

The most surprising nomination was that of Farouk Kadoumi, who split with Arafat almost two decades ago and, despite never setting foot in the Palestinian-run territories in the years after the Palestinian Authority was created, never ceded his PLO title of foreign minister.

Even though his positions were too hard-line for other Palestinian Arab leaders, Mr. Kadoumi was yesterday awarded one key title that previously was held by Arafat, like most other leadership positions – that of the head of the Fatah party, the dominant political force in the PLO.

One issue notably missed in most of yesterday’s eulogies was the need for the transition from the Arafat era into a legitimate election and a future democracy for Palestinian Arabs. While Mr. Annan carried a speech at a special General Assembly memorial session, praising Arafat and proudly reminding listeners that 30 years ago he became the “first representative of a nongovernmental organization” to address the General Assembly, his decision to forgo the funeral raised some anger at the U.N. halls.

According to U.N sources, Mr. Annan’s special Middle East representative, Terje Roed Larsen, “hitched a ride” on Mr. Burns’s American plane on his way to represent the U.N. at the funeral. Spokesman Fred Eckhard said that Mr. Annan does not have a private airplane, and since no direct commercial flights were available, he decided to send Mr. Larsen instead.

“I think [Mr. Annan] should go,” Algeria’s U.N. ambassador, Abdallah Baali, told The New York Sun, dismissing the explanation. “If he wants to go there, any Arab country can give him a plane,” he said, adding, “This is not a good explanation. Maybe he is afraid.”

France and the United Nations, two trusted allies of Arafat in life, yesterday used all the pomp and circumstance associated with the passing of a head of state to pay final respects. Mr. Eckhard said that over the years the General Assembly, in a series of rulings, had accorded Arafat a status equivalent to that of a head of state, and so it should in his death.

President Chirac went to Percy military hospital, where Arafat died Thursday morning, to pay final respects. He supplied a military plane to fly the body to Cairo. “I came to bow before President Yasser Arafat and pay him a final homage,” he said.

Dignitaries React To Arafat’s Death

President Chirac, France: Arafat was a man of “conviction and courage.” “I came to bow before President Yasser Arafat and pay him a final homage.”

Secretary-General Annan, U.N.:

“For nearly four decades, Yasser Arafat expressed and symbolized in his person the national aspirations of the Palestinian people. He was one of those few leaders who was instantly recognizable by people in any walk of life, all around the world.”

“President Arafat will always be remembered for having led the Palestinians, in 1988, to accept the principle of peaceful coexistence between Israel and a future Palestinian state. By signing the Oslo accords in 1993, he took a giant step towards the realization of this vision.”

President Mubarak, Egypt:

Arafat “defended rights, struggled against occupation and pursued peace.”

Prime Minister Sharon, Israel:

(No Mention of Arafat’s name.) “The recent events could be a historic turning point for the Middle East. Israel is a country that seeks peace and will continue its efforts to reach a peace deal with the Palestinians without delay.”

President Mandela, South Africa:

“Yasser Arafat was one of the outstanding freedom fighters of this generation, one who gave his entire life to the cause of the Palestinian people.”

“It is with great sadness that one notes that his and his people’s dream of a Palestinian state had not yet been realized.”

President Hu, China:

Arafat was “a great friend of China.”

Anonymous, Hamas:

“The loss of the great leader will increase our determination and steadfastness to continue Jihad and resistance against the Zionist enemy until victory and liberation is achieved.”

Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi, Iran:

“What is important now is for the Palestinians to stay united and understand the sensitivity of the situation to confront the plots of the Zionist regime, which wants to take as much advantage as it can from Arafat’s death.”