...Arafat's departure Friday was the first time he had left the Ramallah compound in 2-1/2 years. His chair was left empty at the meeting. Boy, if that isn't foreshadowing, I don't know what is.
...PLO member Yasser Abed Rabbo said the session -- the first without Arafat since the late 1960s-- would "ensure the function of Palestinian institutions."
Such as the continued corruption of their youth.
..."It is to be a normal weekly meeting, to discuss political developments," such as Jewish settlement building on occupied land and internal Palestinian affairs, PLO committee member Taysir Khaled told Reuters before the session.
I wonder if they discussed who is going to kill who to take command as part of the Palestinian internal affairs discussion?
"I don't think anybody can make any decisions while Yasser Arafat is still alive," Palestinian lawmaker Hassan Khreishah added. "So things will remain as now."
I guess they are waiting for him to die before starting a civil war.