# Are Arabs blaming americans for Arafats health and near death situation yet **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 5, 2004, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-arabs-blaming-americans-for-arafats-health-and-near-death-situation-yet/273160 "2004-11-05T12:20:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2004, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-arabs-blaming-americans-for-arafats-health-and-near-death-situation-yet/273160/1 "2004-11-05T12:20:48Z")
I would assume they’d find a way to blame the US government for Arafat dying because it happened at the same time that the US election took place. Has this started happening yet, and what do the rumors/conspiracy theories say we did and how/why we did it? ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2004, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-arabs-blaming-americans-for-arafats-health-and-near-death-situation-yet/273160/2 "2004-11-05T12:35:23Z")
I’d think that they’ll blame Israel first. I expect to hear Al-Jazeera say that Ariel Sharon had Arafat poisoned any day now. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2004, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-arabs-blaming-americans-for-arafats-health-and-near-death-situation-yet/273160/3 "2004-11-05T13:07:38Z")
Arafat’s condition is a mystery…I’m willing to bet he’s already dead or close to it. This presents a problem: will there be a bloody power struggle among his leadership? Second, if he dies in France, where do they bury the bum? Israel doesn’t want his corpse interred in Jerusalem (thing what a sjhoot-up an Arafat funeral would be). Still the guy was a defacto state leader-he is due some kind of state funeral…only where. Question: what does Jacques Chirac and France get out of this? Are they stuck with the hospital bill? Chirac didn’t do thisout of the goodness of his heart…why did he play the role of benevolent friend to Arafat? ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2004, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-arabs-blaming-americans-for-arafats-health-and-near-death-situation-yet/273160/4 "2004-11-05T14:08:47Z")
> [@Diceman](#): > > I’d think that they’ll blame Israel first. I expect to hear Al-Jazeera say that Ariel Sharon had Arafat poisoned any day now. Yeah I expect that too. But since it occured at the same time as the US re-election as president Bush i’m sure the US will be blamed too. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Griffin-Kentzel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_griffin-kentzel/32/14787_2.png) [@Larry\_Griffin-Kentzel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Griffin-Kentzel)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2004, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-arabs-blaming-americans-for-arafats-health-and-near-death-situation-yet/273160/5 "2004-11-05T15:05:10Z")
This thread is better suited for **In My Humble Opinion**. I’ll move it for you. **Cajun Man** for the SDMB ---
**Author:** ![Casey1505](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dc4da7/32.png) [@Casey1505](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Casey1505)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2004, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-arabs-blaming-americans-for-arafats-health-and-near-death-situation-yet/273160/6 "2004-11-05T17:21:11Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > Arafat’s condition is a mystery…I’m willing to bet he’s already dead or close to it… if he dies in France, where do they bury the bum? [link](http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20041105/ap_on_re_mi_ea/arafat_israel_3) It is very possible that Arafat is at least brain dead. However, according to Muslim custom, a body must be buried within 24 hours of death. Until someone steps up and agrees to inter the body, he will not be declared dead and will remain on life support. So, he is not all the way dead. He’s just mostly dead. Off to lunch for a nice M.L.T. Mmm…the mutton is lean, the tomato is ripe… ---
**Author:** ![Malodorous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e47774/32.png) [@Malodorous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malodorous)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2004, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-arabs-blaming-americans-for-arafats-health-and-near-death-situation-yet/273160/7 "2004-11-05T17:34:48Z")
While its always a mistake to underestimate the Palestinian’s love of conspiracy theories or their willingness to blame Israel, the fact is that Arafat is an old guy, and that if Israel hasen’t killed him before, it would be a little odd to do it now. So I think that even the Palestinians won’t make too much noise about this. While were on the subject of wildey speculative theories though, I did hear a rumor that Arafat had AIDS, and that is why he went to France for treatment instead of Saudi Arabia or a similar muslim country. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2004, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-arabs-blaming-americans-for-arafats-health-and-near-death-situation-yet/273160/8 "2004-11-05T18:03:06Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > This presents a problem: will there be a bloody power struggle among his leadership? From what I’ve heard, no, that’s not likely. [CNN:](http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/11/05/arafat.health/index.html) > [@](#): > > The Palestinian Authority’s basic law calls for its parliament speaker to serve as acting president for 60 days until an election. > [@](#): > > Second, if he dies in France, where do they bury the bum? Israel doesn’t want his corpse interred in Jerusalem (thing what a sjhoot-up an Arafat funeral would be). If the press is right, there are ongoing negotiations about this between Arafat’s family, Israeli authorities, Egyptians, the French, and others. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2004, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-arabs-blaming-americans-for-arafats-health-and-near-death-situation-yet/273160/9 "2004-11-05T18:06:34Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > Arafat’s condition is a mystery…I’m willing to bet he’s already dead or close to it. This presents a problem: will there be a bloody power struggle among his leadership? Second, if he dies in France, where do they bury the bum? There are apparently talks about having him returned to Palestine so he could die there. The french government doesn’t want to be involved in any way in the negociations about where he should die and where he should be buried. They want the Palestians and Israelis to sort this out. > [@](#): > > Question: what does Jacques Chirac and France get out of this? Are they stuck with the hospital bill? Chirac didn’t do thisout of the goodness of his heart…why did he play the role of benevolent friend to Arafat? He has played the role of the benevolent friend of Arafat for a long time. It’s nothing new. France nurtures its ties with the arab world. It has been a long standing priority of french foreign policy. If nothing else, it’s a good PR move towards the arab public opinion. Anyway, Chirac is in realpolitik. He’s willing to pretend to be the best friend of anybody, regardless of what policy is actually implemented. And he has no issue at all dining with the devil if he thinks it will further his goals or France’s interests. Not that I think necessarily that Arafat is the devil, but Chirac has shown many times in the past, including the recent past, that he has no problem congratulating a heavy handed dictator for the progresses in his country, or to receive another one warmly and with the highest honors. And I assume that they’re stuck with the bill. I doubt it really matters in the grand scheme of things. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2004, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-arabs-blaming-americans-for-arafats-health-and-near-death-situation-yet/273160/10 "2004-11-05T18:38:31Z")
Hard to say. It is the (Thursday/Friday) weekend here, and we begin Eid holiday schedule tomorrow. If anyone mentions it in my earshot, I will let you know.