from Morning Star
Saturday 06 November 2004
Morning Star online
In Palestine, incapacitated by the stricken condition of President Yasser Arafat - whose hospital bed I am visiting this morning - momentous events loom.
Should Arafat die, Sharon has already declared that he may not be buried in his birthplace, occupied Jerusalem.
But what if a million Palestinians carry his body upon their shoulders and march to the Holy City?
Will Sharon shoot them down while the whole world is watching? And what about the succession?
If the so-called "international community" is serious about negotiation, then the only man worth talking to currently languishes in an Israeli dungeon serving five life sentences.
Marwan Barghouti is the only leader who can unite the Palestinian people and with the strength to negotiate and deliver on any agreement.
If Tony Blair is serious about rescuing anything from the ruins of the peace process, he'd better start working for Barghouti's release without delay.
In his absence from the field, should Arafat die, the occupied territories risk descending into warlordism, with local leaders and local fights breaking out all over.
The world will quickly miss Arafat when he's gone. After him may come the deluge.
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