Free Republic

On Lailat al-Kader, the holiest night of Islam, in the epic conflict between shopping and Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat's impending death, shopping has proved victorious. Or at least that's what Khaled Barghouti thinks. Smoking a water pipe at the Ramallah Coffee Shop, where PA officials and Fatah officials like to hang out, Barghouti explained that "we have a conflict between shopping and Arafat's death... it seems that shopping has won." As the Ramadan fast comes to a close, Palestinians made sure to get their shopping done. The streets of Ramallah throbbed Tuesday night with youths and women pushing perambulators....

Four ambulances that were seen entering Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat's compound in Ramallah on Monday afternoon triggered off rumors that he was seriously ill. Within minutes, senior officials in the compound were bombarded with phone calls from curious journalists. Arafat's spokesman, Nabil Abu Rudeineh, dismissed reports that Arafat had been taken to a local hospital. He said Arafat suffered from exhaustion and was recovering. But another senior official said Arafat's health has rapidly deteriorated over the past two weeks. "I don't think it's the flu as some people say," he said. "The president hasn't been feeling well for some...