Last week there was plenty. Thousands of Palestinians filed through the streets of the West Bank Saturday, mourning seven Palestinians killed in clashes with Israelis the day before. It had been one of the bloodiest days in weeks: Three Israelis also died on Friday in clashes with Palestinians, including a 50-year-old schoolteacher and a mother of five who was killed when gunmen ambushed a van traveling to a settlement near Hebron.
In the midst of it all, critics charged that Arafat’s new accessory was really meant to bolster his support among Palestinians. For years he had been growing further from his constituents, living in his beachside compound or jetting to Western capitals to lobby for statehood. Brandishing a gun, he was now portraying himself as the leader of an uprising that began without him.
