well, almost. it's still unknown. he apparently was admitted to the hospital a few weeks ago concerning a stomach illness. now his brain is "clinically dead" while French officials are claiming it's only a coma. it's a stall tactic, either way. i wonder who will step up after him..

I saw that on the news... The illness is unknown isn't it?

Some say that he was dying of AIDs.

*full story*

RIP i guess...

though i don't like him one bit.

Yes, let's have a moment of silence for the dead terrorist.

No, let's not. Pissing on his grave is a better idea. Wait, he's not dead, just in a coma. Pissing on his comatose body is an even better idea.

yes... piss on the grave of the man who probably kept most of the various PLO factions from going into constant kill mode.

i may not have liked him, but he was a lesser evil.

i agree.

Never mind that the Israelis had to build a wall to keep out the PLO suicide bombers.

Your signature sucks big, fat, smelly old lady ass, Sixgun.

yeah the problem is people will take his death as a motive to attack more, and that his illness is unknown is just going to breed untrust.

Anyone "celebrating" the possible death of Arafat is being stupid, or at least short-sighted.

Whether you agreed with him or not, his death would produce a power vacuum in Palestine - and with Al Qaeda's power and numbers in the Middle East growing fast due to the US/UK liberation/invasion/occupation (choose your own POV - I'm not trying to score points) of Iraq, they'll be trying to take over his role. I'm not necessarily talking about his official leadership of the PLO, but his perceived position as the cultural/social figurehead of Palestine.

Arafat's position was moderate compared to Al Qaeda - he condemned the attacks on 9/11 and he was prepared to negotiate with Israel and work towards a peace process. If you can imagine Al Qaeda even considering negotiating with Israel then you've got a better imagination than I have.

Any gloating or smug reactions (by the US or Israeli governments) to his possible death are just going to push the more militant of the Palestinians towards Al Qaeda, and possibly even turn moderate, previously non-violent Palestinians towards terrorism. Which will lead to the deaths of more Israelis and Palestinians.

An intelligent reaction by Israel would be to graciously allow his burial in Jerusalem (which I heard earlier today was Arafat's wish) - this gesture could help to build a peace between Israel and Palestine, and also help to show that moderation is better than extremism.

Cheap shots, reactionary stupidity and stubbornness will just result in the deaths of more innocent men, women and children on both sides.

Go figure.

Have you been paying attention the last few years? They have been in constant kill mode.

His death will have whatever effect it's going to have, no matter what anyone's opinion of it is.

He's going to die, and all this would happen anyway, even if I loved him.

Arafat was a fraud. He went into those negotiations hoping to get screwed for the political boost it would give him with his own people. A Pelestinian state was of less interest to him than continuing to have the victim status of the Palestinian people to use for his own personal benefit. That's why he turned down the treaty when.....damn, now I can't remember his name....the last Labor PM of Israel offered Arafat everything he said he wanted. Instead he started a new Intifada.

People are going to die no matter how anyone reacts. Palestinians are going to be killing each other to try to take his place, and killing Israelis as a sort of campaign promise. Our politicos say "I'm tough on crime." when they run. Whoever tries to take over the PLO is going to have to be able to say "I'm tough on Israel." The higher their body count, the better.

He wants to be buried on the Temple Mount, near the Dome of the Rock. They aren't going to let that happen. Part of Israel's long term plans are to tear that thing down and rebuild the temple.

This is way offtopic, but I wish they would hurry up and do that. Rebuilding the temple is part of the end times prophesy. I want to see what happens after the temple goes back up.

If I were the president, you'd be right, but I'm just an average asshole with an opinion, so it doesn't matter.

I can see your point of view on that, but he went into negotiations rather than proclaiming Jihad. Al Qaeda wouldn't negotiate - they'd just declare full-on holy war which would make the current Palestinian suicide bombings look like trick-or-treaters.

If the general feeling is that Israel is being militant then that's true. But if Israel takes this opportunity to show themselves as being moderate then perhaps things can be better.

It's a shame, because this one concession (which costs Israel absolutely no compromises on their agenda) would really help the peace process. I guess the Israeli government must prefer being macho to saving the lives of their citizens. Go figure.


well, that's always the way, ain't it. If normal people were in charge then half this shit would be unnecessary.

The Left is in total sympathy with the PLO. The socialists here think Arafat is a "moderate" because he is more of a secular Arab nationalist rather than a religious fanatic like Osama bin Ladin. I should point out that both Arab nationalists and the Islamic fundamentalists are calling for the destruction of Israel.

I must also point out that old man Arafat is dying in bed while the young people of his tribe are sent out on suicide missions. That just shows how corrupt the SOB is.

I had assumed that Arafat would choose to go out with a bang, instead he clings to half-life in a French hospital. What a coward.

Yeah because when your clinging to life, you usually are thinking of going out with a bang... Tell you what, maybe if you went to france, rolled him out in a wheelchair, strapped a few kilo's of C4 to him and took him for a sail around the world on your loveboat Im sure majority would be thankful that at least one of you were dead.

Yeah he is a coward how dare he cling to life in hospital! While Bin Laden hides away in the mountains! I don't see the similarities between being a coward and being just about dead....

Oh and thanks for voting Bush.... You just proved my point that care in the community doesn't work.

I don't believe arafat was the reason of these terrorists. He only didn't do anything. which makes him still evil. Maybe less evil than Al queda but still evil...

I don't have anything but my gut feeling to back it up, but I think he went into Oslo deal as a pretext to justify a jihad. When he turned down the last treaty he was offered, after 2 years of Clinton twisting Israel's arm to give Arafat what he wanted, it said a lot to me.

I keep hearing little snippets of news on the radio that "Israel is setting ground rules for what happens after Arafats death". I haven't had the time yet to fully look into that. You are right though, IF a Palestinian who isn't a total extremist can get the power.

We have a national cemetary called Arlington. To be buried there you have to be a war hero, or a president. Clinton authorized one of his cronies, who didn't qualify, to be buried there. People were pissed about it.

That's the closest analogy I can come up with. The Temple Mount is holy ground to the jews. They already consider the mosque there to be an intrusion that needs to be removed. There is no way they will allow him to be buried there, and it really isn't about macho.

Ironic isn't it. No 72 virgins in paradise for Arafat!