Yasser Arafat, Icon Of Palestinian Cause, Is Dead

Yasser Arafat, the Nobel Peace Prize winner revered as the Palestinians’ greatest champion by some and reviled as an opportunistic terrorist by others, died in a Paris hospital today. His passing marked the end of an era in modern Middle East history, and some hoped it could spur new efforts at Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking. As can be expected, John Howard committed his usual bumbling faux pas on Arafat’s passing