What's the Yasser with you OY! Ramallahs a luvverly place OY!

So I see that Yasser Arafat is very ill and has been rushed for emergency treatment here to Paris. Apart from the fact that as a result the traffic will be a bitch tonight, I'm not wholly convinced that this was a great idea.

Yasser has been holed up in his Ramallah compound in the West Bank for over two years now, simply because the Israelis (the worlds must trustworthy folk) have promised him that if he ever tries to leave, then he will not be permitted to return. So, he hasn't left. Status Quo.

Now he has got to leave because he is ill, and the Palestinians have made Israel "promise" that he will be allowed to return safely. Hmm. I can see how that conversation went.

Palestine "Look, we know you said he wouldn't be allowed to return, but he's ill - would it be OK just this once? Then we can return to this stand-off you love so much?"

Israel "Oh, he's ill is he?" *snigger* "Oh well that's different" *hehehe* "Of course *cough* he can return *cough* safely" authors note: At this point there were unconfirmed rumours of a voice shouting "In a box" in the background

Maybe I'm being cynical. We'll see what happens. However I will blow my own trumpet for perhaps my greatest headline ever.