AP
Palestinians Anxiously Watching Arafat
Date: Thu, Oct 28, 2004
By AHMED MANTASH, Associated Press Writer
EIN EL-HILWEH, Lebanon - Palestinians anxiously followed radio and television bulletins Thursday for news of Yasser Arafat (news - web sites), the symbol of their struggle for a homeland and the only leader many have ever known.
Fresh pictures of Arafat were pasted on walls of Ein el-Hilweh, the largest Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon. Residents said they spent the night either flipping between TV channels or praying.
"I did not get to sleep last night until I heard on television that Arafat had performed his morning prayers," said Umm Hassan Shaker, a 50-year-old mother of five. She was watching the news again Thursday.
In Yarmouk refugee camp in Syria, concern for Arafat was mixed with criticism as some refugees accused him of offering too many concessions to the Israelis.
And in Wehdat camp in Jordan, a man shouted "silence" to quiet the customers in his vegetable shop as a news bulletin began on a satellite TV channel.
"If he dies, it'll be tragic for the Palestinians," said shop owner Mahmoud el-Azza, 58. "It'll take 100 years for someone to fill in his place."
Arafat's condition deteriorated Wednesday when he collapsed, remaining unconscious for about 10 minutes. On Thursday, he managed to perform Muslim prayers, but his condition remained serious and doctors later announced he would undergo treatment in Paris. It would be the first time Arafat has left his headquarters compound in the West Bank town of Ramallah since he was confined there by Israel in 2002.
The news provoked worry in Ein el-Hilweh, a camp near the southern Lebanese port city of Sidon that houses at least 65,000 Palestinian refugees, and their descendants, who were displaced by Israel's creation in 1948. Lebanon has 11 other refugee camps and hosts about 350,000 Palestinians.
The future of the refugees has been one of the major sticking points in Palestinian-Israeli peace negotiations.
"If, God forbid, Arafat dies, the Palestinians in Lebanon will find themselves facing a new 'nakba'," said Hussein Mohammed, using the Arabic word for catastrophe. Mohammed, 35, is a press officer for Arafat's Fatah (news - web sites) faction in Ein el-Hilweh.
Another Fatah official in the camp, Khaled Aref, said: "What pains us the most is that no Arab head of state or official has done anything in all the time Arafat has been besieged. And now there is nothing we can do but pray to God to heal our leader, our symbol, and hope he responds."
In neighboring Syria, some residents of the Yarmouk camp outside Damascus expressed disappointment in Arafat.
"What has Arafat done for us?" asked Mahmoud al-Shaaer, 58, a photographer in the camp. "What has he offered us in terms of peace and liberating Palestine? ... On the contrary, we've gone from bad to worse."
Another Yarmouk resident, Mahmoud Abu Dagher, 30, agreed, but said he wished Arafat well because he was a symbol of the Palestinian people.
In the Palestinian territories, residents also anxiously awaited word on Arafat.
"I was awake all the night searching for news about the president's health," said Imad Samara, a teacher from Gaza City. "I pray to God to save him because we need him, he is the safety valve for everything here, he the father of all the Palestinians."
And Sausan Shahin, a law student at Abu Dis University on the outskirts of Jerusalem, said that if Arafat died, there would be a frenzy of violence.
"Everybody loves him, and when he is gone, we will have a civil war that will destroy us," she said. "Some people will not know how to behave, you will have everyone fighting for power."
Palestinians in Wehdat camp outside the Jordanian capital Amman peppered a reporter with questions about Arafat. "Is he OK?" one asked. "Is he unconscious?" asked another.
In Baqaa, another of Jordan's 13 refugee camps, gift shop owner Awni Shatart said Arafat had a special place in Palestinian hearts.
"He's a symbol of the Palestinian cause and a father figure," Shatart said. "I love him dearly for what he suffered for the Palestinian cause, most recently, the siege he was under. No man can understand how an old man could tolerate that."
SOURCE
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