Let it be noted. I will not shed a tear over the death of Yasir `Arafat. This has been a lousy leader who has spent his career trying to please Arab royalty, Israel, and the US, and failing miserably in his efforts. He is responsible for the massive corruption in the PLO and the PA, and has used corruption to play rivals against one another. `Arafat has compounded the wounds and sufferings of the Palestinian people, and is responsible for the assassination of Palestinian writers and intellectuals (like the cartoonist Naji Al-`Ali). He is responsible for the kidnappying and killing of Saudi dissident Nasir As-Sa`id on behalf of the Saudi royal family, and has supported Palestinian infighting when it served his selfish political interests. He launched a war on Palestinian camps in North Lebanon in 1983, and for that he should not be forgiven. Having said that, it is Zionism that is responsible for the birth of Palestinian national suffering. I will write more about him when he dies.