How will Arafat's death affect Palestine and the Middle East?

He's not dead yet you vulture.

 

(After the confusion the last two Arafat threads caused about the poor chap's status I thought I should point that out )

But to answer the question, nobody knows. If a hardliner (like Bush) takes power then the middle east peace process will fail. It's a bit disturbing, as nobody is quite sure who will end up in power. Hopefully, it will be someone who is open to the peace process and will limit the armys free rein.

At least the largest Palestinian organizations are negotiating on how to proceed ... has not blown to anyones face yet, perhaps they'll get their act together since they really need to since Arafat ain't keeping it together.