Whatever your thoughts on the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, Yasser Arafat's death opens a power vacuum in Palestinian politics that will likely result in more violence between Palestinians and Israelis, and probably internecine deaths in the West Bank and Gaza Strip as rivals vie for power. Given the hard line the Israelis and Palestinians have taken since Ehud Barak's peace plan was rejected by the Palestinian Authority in 2000, it seems exceedingly unlikely that Palestinian moderates will obtain significant power. This, coupled with the fact that any successor to Arafat will likely lack his "credibility" among hardline Palestinians (and hence ability to rein in, however limited, hardliners) given Arafat's revolutionary or terrorist history (depending on which side of the divide you fall) makes it probable that terrorist organizations such as Hamas and Hizbollah will unleash a more sustained and violent wave of attacks on Israelis. Strange that in death Arafat may be more relevant to Israel and the Palestinians than he seemingly was in the last few years of his life.
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