 The Palestinian leadership held its first meeting since the departure of the ailing Yasser Arafat, putting on a show of unity Saturday to dispel concerns about possible chaos and infighting in Arafat's absence. The meeting came as doctors in a French hospital continued to treat Arafat for a mysterious illness. Initial results from a battery of tests found no signs of leukemia, Palestinian officials said, but blood doctors were still probing the cause of the ailing Palestinian leader's dramatic deterioration in health.
| He may not croak this time. But just showing his mortality pops the bubble. He'll never be quite as powerful as he was, and probably won't be anything close to it. |
About 1,000 Palestinian students rallied Saturday at An-Najah University in the West Bank city of Nablus, many of them carrying Arafat's portrait. In Gaza City, about 400 students marched from the downtown Al Azhar University to Arafat's seafront offices, carrying placards bearing his picture and chanting, "God save our beloved President. Great God, save our old man." Arafat's deputy, Mahmoud Abbas, convened the weekly meeting of the executive committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization in Ramallah. It was one of the few sessions of the top PLO policy-making body held over past decades without Arafat presiding. Abbas, a former Palestinian prime minister who has feuded with Arafat in the past, declined to sit in Arafat's chair at the head of the conference table. Later, he addressed reporters alongside four other senior officials, in a message that the leadership is unified and that no one is trying to usurp Arafat's position. "We decided that all Palestinian leadership institutions will continue functioning in the framework of the Palestinian Authority, according to the Palestinian basic law," Abbas said. "This is President Arafat's desire." |