CELEBRATORY gunfire echoed over the skyline of Ramallah at the news of Ariel Sharon’s stroke. But as ordinary Palestinians vented their feelings politicians and television analysts took a more sober perspective on the ramifications.

The main Arab satellite channels broke into their programming to carry the news, followed by rolling hospital updates and analysis from neurologists and surgeons.

Among the first inimical reactions was that of Anwar Abu Taha, a Palestinian Islamic Jihad official in Beirut, where Mr Sharon is remembered with hatred for his 1982 invasion of Lebanon and the massacre of Palestinian civilians by Israel’s Christian Phalangist allies.

“We are not sorry for him — to hell with him. We in Islamic Jihad and all Palestinians have no sympathy for any Zionists,” he told the Hezbollah al-Manar TV station. “We do not accept he is a political leader. He is a butcher.”

But the Palestinian Authority took a far more measured stance. Ahmed Qureia, the Prime Minister, said: “Our prayers are with Sharon.”

Mohammed Dahlan, a Palestinian Authority minister, said: “His death will cause a political upheaval in both Israeli and Palestinian societies. Sharon is a leader who is loyal to his people.”

In Gaza Mr Sharon remains a hate figure from his days as army chief of the Southern Command and his 1971 policy of bulldozing Palestinian refugee camps to clear Fedayin fighters and subdue the local population.

No tears were being shed there for him last night. “I’m so happy,” said Allah Nabil, a 23-year-old accountant from Gaza City. “He has tricked the world, portrayed himself as a man of peace when, in reality, he was a war criminal. He has a long history of massacres here since the 1950s. This is a positive step for us.”

The 40km (25 mile) strip has slipped into chaos since Israel’s pullout last summer and local news coverage focused on the daily internal bloodshed — after the al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades killed two Egyptian border guards and injured dozens more breaking through the Rafah crossing into Egypt.

Gazans were phoning one another and staying up to watch Mr Sharon’s medical updates on television late into the night.

Bushra Saleh, 45, a teacher, said. “I hope he dies. He was very bad for the Palestinians and he made all of our lives depend on him and his decisions. This guy only knew the language of bloodshed.”

Mushir al-Masri, a Hamas spokesman, said: “The whole area will be better. This guy practised his crimes and terrorist attacks and committed massacres against our people.”

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