Mideast Braces for Life After Arafat.
How the Palestinian icon's health crisis changes a region's political outlook.

These folks don´t seem to get it:Jasser Arafat´s staying in power is just an excuse for the support US government is giving for the destruction of peace negoatiations and the creation of a Greater Israel and dividing of West Bank between this Greater Israel and small bantustans.

If Jasser Arafat dies, another excuse will be invented. It´s not hard to imagine that Bush or Kerry will then claim that the other PLO leaders are also stained and that US is not ready to talk with them either and that US demands somebody totally fresh, who has never raised a hand in anger against Israel or not even said a nasty word against the Chosen People Number One.

Another possibility is that US will claim that as a preliminary to any negotiations future Palestinian leadership must accept the terms of Bush´s gif to Sharon:No right of return to the Palestinian refugees, no return to the pre-1967 borders, the Green line.

The thing is that US supports now unconditionally Israel, whatever the policy of it´s leaders, and like one commentator put it, "When a US president has promised something for Israel, no president of the US can deny it from Israel." And in this case, Bush has promised to Israel half of West Bank (but not the hand of one of his daughters, at least at the moment).