Can we please find someone in America to take a balanced look at this issue, with a little more nuance than "Palestians are terrorists and Israel has a right to defend itself" or "Palestinians are an oppressed people and everything about Israel and everything they do is illegal"?  

This is not a simple issue.  Arafat may have led a noble CAUSE, but he was not a noble PERSON.  Let's try and separate the two.  Ariel Sharon will be just as mourned in my home when he passes as Arafat is:  Not at all.  My only concern is who will the Palestinians choose to replace him, and will they succeed?  The impediment to success with the last few token PM's they've trotted out has been that they were either puppets or refused to be puppets and as a result didn't last.  

Okay, my other concerns are A: what will Israel do while Palestine is focused on this (I'm betting on nothing), and B: what crazy-ass shit will Bush try with Arafat outta there?  (My bet is he'll try to get a puppet of his own installed).