FRENCH POLL: ARAFAT A HERO

Poll: French see Arafat as hero
French people regard Yasser Arafat as a hero rather than a terrorist, according to a new poll. Asked to choose whether the Palestinian Authority president is a “hero of national resistance” or a terrorist, 43 percent chose the former and 27 percent the latter. Ten percent said Arafat fitted into both categories, while 9 percent said he was neither one nor the other. The poll, published Monday and commissioned jointly by the Liberation newspaper and a national public radio station, also found that three times as many French hold Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon responsible for Middle East violence than Arafat. In addition, 34 percent said they had more sympathy for the Palestinians, as opposed to 13 percent for Israel. A similar poll in 2000 found almost equal degrees of sympathy for both sides.