I left the site, near the Siloam pool, and walked onto the dusty Palestinian street, with kids playing soccer in the hot March sun.

That was why, he said, "the Palestinian street is shocked."

And Arafat has always been extraordinarily sensitive to the mood on the Palestinian street.

Indeed, the Palestinian street is ready for war.

When someone said Palestinian streets were exploding from pent-up frustration, he gestured around him.

But such stratagems simply deepened disenchantment on the Palestinian street.

But the armed force was thinner today, and so there were more opportunities for the Palestinian street to erupt, as it did.

That generation has the potential to reconnect al-Fatah to the Palestinian street.

But, at the same time, he said that if they were persuaded that the Israeli approach was genuine, "the Palestinian street would certainly be flexible."

This made it difficult for him to play a central role, because it discredited him on the Palestinian streets.