Last week, people all over the world got an unusual glimpse of Yasser Arafat out of his military uniform as he was lifted, looking frail and disoriented, onto a helicopter in Ramallah.
The image of the weakened leader brings both a shudder and a list of questions to the Palestinian people. As President of the Palestinian Authority he has been sidelined in both Israeli and international politics and kept under house arrest in a shell-battered compound in Ramallah for almost three years.
Inside his own camp, Arafat maintains a tight grip on leadership of the Palestine Authority by refusing to share power or name a successor. And while his health condition now seems stable, his role as political leader is anything but.
Guests:
Saeb Erekat , Member of the Palestinian Legislative Council;Michael Hudson, Director of the Center for Contemporary Arab Studies at Georgetown University;
Tahgreed El Khodary , correspondent for Al Hayat, LBC Television and stringer for The New York Times;Ari Shavit, political columnist for Ha’Aretz.