P.A. FINALLY ADMITS ARAFAT IS DEAD AND THE WORLD REACTS

OF COURSE HE'S BEEN DEAD FOR A WEEK. WHY THE DELAY IN ANNOUNCING IT? WELL, HELL DIDN'T WANT HIM EITHER.

ARAFAT DIES IN PARIS HOSPITAL
Palestinian President Yasser Arafat died early Thursday morning in Paris.
Arafat is survived by his wife Suha and nine-year-old daughter Zahwa.

Tayeb Abd Al Rahim, a top PA official, made a statement at a meeting of the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah which read: "At 4:30 a.m. Yasser Arafat's death was declared. His funeral will be held in Ramallah. His pure spirit has returned to its source, but he remains with us."

Forty days of mourning have been declared in the Palestinian territories.

"Mr. Yasser Arafat, president of the Palestinian Authority, has died at the Percy Military Training Hospital in Clamart on Nov. 11, 2004, at 3:30," spokesman Gen. Christian Estripeau told reporters in a brief statement.

Estripeau then told reporters that Arafat's body would be leaving the hospital, but that - because of French privacy laws - no details would be given on the cause of death or anything else.

THE A.P. IS ALL BROKEN UP. LOOK HOW THEY EULOGIZE THE MURDERER OF JEWS:

Palestinian Leader Arafat Dies at 75
PARIS (AP) - Yasser Arafat, who triumphantly forced his people's plight into the world spotlight but failed to achieve his lifelong quest for Palestinian statehood, died Thursday at age 75.

JACQUES CHIRAC ALREADY MISSES HIS BUDDY:

France's Chirac hails Arafat as man of courage
PARIS (Reuters) - French President Jacques Chirac, confirming Yasser Arafat's death, has hailed the Palestinian leader as a man of courage and conviction who embodied the Palestinian struggle for a state.

"It is with emotion that I have just learnt of the death of President Yasser Arafat, the first elected president of the Palestinian Authority," Chirac said in a written statement on Thursday. "I offer my very sincere condolences to his family and to people close to him."

SO DOES KOFI ANNAN: (SCROLL DOWN)

“The Secretary-General was deeply moved to learn of the death of President Yasser Arafat. President Arafat was one of those few leaders who could be instantly recognised by people in any walk of life all around the world. For nearly four decades, he expressed and symbolized in his person the national aspirations of the Palestinian people. “President Arafat will always be remembered for having, in 1988, led the Palestinians to accept the principle of peaceful coexistence between Israel and a future Palestinian state. By signing the Oslo accords in 1993 he took a giant step towards the realisation of this vision. It is tragic that he did not live to see it fulfilled. Now that he has gone, both Israelis and Palestinians, and the friends of both peoples throughout the world, must make even greater efforts to bring about the peaceful realisation of the Palestinian right of self-determination.

AS USUAL, AUSTRALIA IS ON THE RIGHT SIDE:

History will judge Arafat harshly: Howard
Prime Minister John Howard says Yasser Arafat will be remembered as a leader who failed to grasp an opportunity for peace in the Middle East. Officials have described the Palestinian President as being in the final phase of his life. They say the 75-year-old's liver and kidneys have failed and he remains in a deep coma in a Paris hospital.

Mr Howard says many people regard Yasser Arafat as a terrorist and it is hard to believe that he could not have done more to restrain militant Palestinian groups.

"I think history will judge him very harshly for not having seized the opportunity in the year 2000 to embrace the offer that was very courageously made by the then Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Barack, which involved the Israelis agreeing to 90 per cent of what the Palestinians had wanted," he said.

ISRAEL PLANS TO PISS ON HIS GRAVE. BRAVO.

Israel plans posthumous anti-Arafat campaign
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said yesterday that after the funeral of Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat, Israel will launch a propaganda campaign against him. The political-security cabinet yesterday approved the proposed plans to bury Arafat in Ramallah. "It is feared that after his funeral Arafat will become a national hero and freedom-fighter," Sharon said. "We will launch a tough struggle to portray his murderous character and the fact that he is a strategist of world terror who hurt innocent people, both Israelis and American diplomats," he said.