Just time today for a couple of notes. First, if you never saw the film The Holy Land, I recommend that you rent it. It's a well-acted drama with an ending that I didn't expect, and it's very appropriate given the events of the last week. Second, I have to confess to being a cynic where the Israel/Palestine situation is concerned. I'd like to think that Arafat's passing opens the way for real dialogue and eventually real peace in the region, but deep down I don't think it's going to happen. Even if the leadership on both sides truly wanted the violence to end, I don't believe they have enough control over their citizens to make it happen. Someone remembered a reference which basically said that the Palestinians needed a Gandhi, but instead they got Arafat. Frankly, I don't think even Gandhi would have succeeded here. And, while I don't condone everything Arafat did, and while I believe there were opportunities in the past that he should not have let slip by, in the end I have to second what alinewrites had to say about him. The minority opinion, I suppose.
Finally, for morgared : For "meltdown", think of Chernobyl and what happened at the nuclear facility there. (Or think of the film The China Syndrome.)