Yasser Arafat

As you probably heard it, the President of the Palestinian Authority, Yasser Arafat, is in France for health treatments, and, according to the media, he is about to die. According to French doctors, he was yesterday in a state of "mort cerebrale" (brain death?). This event triggers off many issues: who is going to lead the Palestinian government? How Israel and their supporter, the USA, will react? Does this announced death represent a chance for a political solution to the conflict between the Palestinian people and the Israelis or is it the beginning of a more important political chaos?
While the more important part of North-American press is focusing on the US presidential elections, one must not underestimate the importance of such a death, if he really dies. The Middle-East is the most "hot" place in the world these days. The events that occur in the Palestinian territories are likely to have a huge impact on the whole region.