MIDDLE EAST: Beyond emotional concern for the health of Yasser Arafat, known to many as Abu Ammar, ordinary Palestinians dread what might follow a leader who has never groomed a successor and who neutralised anyone who tried to forge a broad power base.
"Abu Ammar is not just a symbol, he is the head of the whole Palestinian household. I'm afraid if he dies, there will be no authority. It will be a catastrophe for our people," said Jawad Juda (50), a Ramallah shoe merchant.
"I am afraid that Palestinians will be saddled with a new leader like Hamid Karzai in Afghanistan or Iyad Allawi in Iraq who will be an appointee of America," he added.
"I think it will be a disaster. We will fight each other and the Israelis will just sit back and watch," said Abu Salem (30) in Ramallah's busy market centre.
Palestinians point to outbreaks of fighting between security force factions in Gaza as a harbinger of life after Mr Arafat.
"We are afraid of the political chaos in store here if a successor is appointed and proves just a weak front for America and Israel," said Mohammed Abdel-Aziz (30), a Gaza City teacher.
"Who can replace Abu Ammar? I see no one capable. God willing he will recover," said Um Majed, a Gaza mother.
A young man, Fares Arruri, summed up how many feel about what appeared to be the looming demise of the man who has so shaped their lives.
"Arafat the leader will die but Arafat the symbol will live on. This is better for both the Palestinian people and Arafat because leaders are imperfect but symbols are perfect," he said.