As Arafat's health deteriorated Thursday, Palestinian officials met in nearly nonstop emergency sessions. Some meetings were held in Arafat's heavily damaged compound in Ramallah, then continued at Abbas's home nearby, Palestinian officials said. In the official meeting chambers of Arafat's governmental center, officials left his chair at the head of the table empty.
Arafat never groomed a successor and often thwarted rivals from gaining power.
A portrait of Yasser Arafat hangs over his empty chair during an emergency meeting of the Fatah leadership in Ramallah, in the West Bank. Arafat was a co-founder of Fatah, the most powerful Palestinian political organization.
(Muhammed Muheisen -- AP)
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AP Video Report: Doctors fight to keep Arafat alive as Palestinian officials look to prevent unrest.
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In recent months, well before Arafat's illness, the Palestinian Authority was embroiled in factionalism and dissent. Younger members demanded change, rival security forces in Gaza battled in the streets and militant organizations agitated for more financial support for their members and for the impoverished refugee camps where most of their families live.
Reaction to Arafat's deteriorating condition was subdued in the face of a barrage of conflicting media reports of his imminent death and statements from Palestinian officials attempting to play down the severity of the situation.
"He created this monument, the Palestinian entity," said Hind Barghouti, 50, a high school principal who stood outside the Ramallah compound with her two children and about 300 others in an impromptu vigil. "He is the symbol of the Palestinian people. The least I could do is come and rally around the compound to show my support."
But crowds outside the headquarters where Arafat spent the last 2 1/2 years -- never leaving for fear that Israeli soldiers would force him into exile or kill him -- were subdued compared with the boisterous mobs of thousands who have collected there during past Palestinian crises.
In Israel, there were high-level meetings much of the day as senior government officials from various agencies debated how to deal with potentially thorny problems should Arafat die. Sharon said at a cabinet meeting Sunday that he would not allow Arafat to be buried in Jerusalem, which both Israelis and Palestinians claim as their capital, and senior officials were discussing what to do if the Palestinians demanded a Jerusalem burial.
Another potential problem was how Israel would react to a state funeral in the West Bank that could draw Arab and Islamic dignitaries from such enemies of Israel as Libya and Iran. Leaders of those countries and others from the Middle East would likely fly into Amman, the Jordanian capital, then attempt to enter the West Bank over the Allenby Bridge, a major border crossing under Israeli army control about 25 miles east of Jerusalem.
Special correspondent Sufian Taha in Ramallah contributed to this report.
