# How will Yassar Arafat's death affect the crisis in Middle East? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 31, 2002, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-will-yassar-arafats-death-affect-the-crisis-in-middle-east/101120 "2002-03-31T23:04:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Cull](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bc79bd/32.png) [@Cull](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cull)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2002, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-will-yassar-arafats-death-affect-the-crisis-in-middle-east/101120/1 "2002-03-31T23:04:42Z")
The news is quite striking… now that the country’s leader has passed away, what new developments will we see in the middle east violence? Could this be the beginning of the collapse of Israel? How is this going to be dealt with? ---
**Author:** ![RaCha\_ar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c2a13f/32.png) [@RaCha\_ar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RaCha_ar)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2002, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-will-yassar-arafats-death-affect-the-crisis-in-middle-east/101120/2 "2002-03-31T23:19:39Z")
Has he died? I haven’t heard anything about this and none of my news sources are saying it either. Cite? ---
**Author:** ![Lsura](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7993a0/32.png) [@Lsura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lsura)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2002, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-will-yassar-arafats-death-affect-the-crisis-in-middle-east/101120/3 "2002-03-31T23:20:33Z")
Arafat’s dead? Can you confirm with a link, please? ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2002, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-will-yassar-arafats-death-affect-the-crisis-in-middle-east/101120/4 "2002-03-31T23:20:44Z")
Yeah, I haven’t heard that he died either. Are you completely sure? ---
**Author:** ![Jester](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jester/32/8223_2.png) [@Jester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jester)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2002, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-will-yassar-arafats-death-affect-the-crisis-in-middle-east/101120/5 "2002-03-31T23:22:11Z")
Just checked the AP Wire, and I see zilch to that effect. Care to enlighten us, **Cull**? ---
**Author:** ![dunne\_u.wurrie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9fc29f/32.png) [@dunne\_u.wurrie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dunne_u.wurrie)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2002, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-will-yassar-arafats-death-affect-the-crisis-in-middle-east/101120/6 "2002-03-31T23:31:34Z")
Be prepared for a glut of April Fools postings, people. Arafat isn’t dead - he’s hiding in my bathroom, right now. ---
**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2002, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-will-yassar-arafats-death-affect-the-crisis-in-middle-east/101120/7 "2002-04-01T00:05:28Z")
While this is a joke I would not be surprised to read such a thread title with a similar OP in GD for real in the near future. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2002, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-will-yassar-arafats-death-affect-the-crisis-in-middle-east/101120/8 "2002-04-01T00:16:42Z")
The truth to the conspiracy will be found by correlating Yasser’s public sightings against the Queen Mum’s public sightings. Note that when one is in public, the other is tucked away, and also note that neither were ever seen together.