Arafat's death in Alberta

The Gateway at the Uof Alberta ran a list of Eastern leaders who made headlines this year, with Yasser Arafat posthumously making #3.

"3. Yasser Arafat provoked both sadness and relief with his passing at the age of 75. After over a month of false death reports and various rumours about his condition and location, Arafat was pronounced dead at 3:30am on
11 November in a French hospital.

In the days following his death rumours surfaced about a possible poisoning, but nothing was ever confirmed. As predicted, Israel refused to allow Arafat to be buried in the holy city of Jeruselam. Instead, his body was laid to rest in Ramallah where he lived in a compound, which in recent years had become his prison as dictated by Israel.

To Palestinians and other Arabs, his death was seen as the passing of a hero. To Israelis and American neo-conservatives, it was the passing of a terrorist and a murderer, as well as the removal of the primary obstacle to peace in the Middle East. It remains to be seen if Arafat�s successor, Mahmoud Abbas, will succeed where Arafat failed in making peace with Israel. "

Arafat was many things, but he was never a Jerusalemite. Born in Egypt, exiled to Tunisia and imprisoned in Ramallah, he found the time to create a terrorist organization, pioneer suicide bombings and mismanage $6.5 billion dollars of foreign aid.

A prince of a fellow.