Nothing rallies Palestinians behind their leader like Israeli attempts to unseat him, writes Graham Usher from Jerusalem One week after Israel's invasion of Yasser Arafat's presidential compound in Ramallah little remains save his office. Soldiers, snipers and tanks are digging themselves in for the longest of hauls or until the Palestinian leader hands over "50 fugitives" from among the 200 Palestinians interned with him. He has vowed that not one single Palestinian will be "surrendered". He means it, say aides. He has risen from the ashes. It had seemed unlikely. For the first 48 hours of the siege there were the usual condemnations from the usual Arab and European leaders but nobody had offered a concrete plan to end it, lamented Palestinian negotiator, Saeb Erekat. Concrete action eventually came from where the leadership least expected it. Stirred by army announcements that Arafat's sole standing office was about to be dynamited, on 21 September thousands took to the streets of Ramallah in solidarity with their leader. Similar protests followed in Nablus, Gaza City, Qalqilya, Tulkarm, Hebron, Bethlehem and Jericho, and in the prisons of Israel and refugee camps of Lebanon. In what were largely civilian protests five Palestinians were killed by the army and 30 wounded. Many Palestinians say the demonstrations were as much about defying Israel's curfew and closure policies as defending their cause. "We felt we had been ground into the dust as much as Arafat's compound," said one. But she conceded that Arafat under the barrel of Israeli guns provided a potent symbol. Arafat saw it as a "referendum" on his leadership. And he used the images of Palestinians again marching under his banner to cajole a torpid world into some kind of action. It worked, more or less. On Tuesday the Security Council passed a resolution demanding an end to "Israeli measures in and around Ramallah" and "the expeditious withdrawal of the Israeli occupying forces from Palestinian cities... to positions held prior to September 2000". It also called on the PA to "ensure those responsible for terrorist acts are brought to justice". The PA said it was committed to the resolution "with all its items", but urged the UN to "compel Israel to implement the withdrawal and end the siege". Israel said it would lift the siege when the PA brings the "terrorists to justice", an impossible condition given Israel's now total military control of the West Bank. America abstained, which, given the wall-to-wall consensus on matters Palestinian between George Bush and Ariel Sharon in recent months, was seen as something of a fracture. The US refrained from using its customary veto because televised scenes of the PA's final destruction is last thing it wants as it tries to rally Arab support for the next war on Iraq. "We've got to end the suffering," said Bush on Tuesday. "I thought the actions the Israelis took [in Ramallah] were not helpful in terms of the establishment and development of the institutions necessary for a Palestinian state to emerge". This may be disingenuous but it is also true. On Wednesday Arafat had been due to unveil a new Palestinian cabinet or else face the ongoing revolt of his parliament. Deputies had pledged they would again vote no confidence unless "significant changes" were made, including the removal of such loyal Arafat lieutenants as Planning Minister Nabil Shaath. The Congress Hall where the parliament was to have sat is now a mountain of rubble. And on 19 September -- while the latest Hamas suicide bomber was stepping on a bus in Tel Aviv -- a meeting was being held in Ramallah between Arafat and "prominent personalities" from Fatah and other PLO factions. They argued that measures must be taken against Palestinian militias whose suicidal violence in Israel was openly flouting Fatah's ban on attacks on Israeli civilians. They also urged their leader to appoint his PLO "deputy", Mahmoud Abbas, as PA prime minister in readiness for Palestinian elections early next year. Arafat agreed with the first call. He was less keen on the second but "did not openly oppose it", said one participant. He now no longer needs to. Others are doing so for him. On Tuesday Fatah's military wing, the Al-Aqsa Brigades, issued a warning to those "Palestinian collaborators who are trying to impose an alternative leadership with Israeli and American backing". A little later shots were fired at the Ramallah home of Nabil Amr, a former PA minister who resigned in protest at the lack of reforms. The Palestinian leadership, including Arafat, condemned the shooting. But the point had been made. At a meeting with Fatah leaders on Tuesday Abbas was at pains to insist that it had been held with Arafat's blessing and was confined to addressing the siege on his compound and how to end it. "No one can speak about reforms in this situation," said one aide, who attended 19 September meeting. AL-AQSA INTIFADA SPECIAL
