Who could they possibly get to replace him that wouldn't be hugely unpopular?
Globo-Chem mascot Pit-Pat.
It's highly unlikely that ANYONE who succeeds Arafat is going to be actually popular. Plus, don't forget, it's not like Arafat is a young man, he WILL die eventually of natural causes. He'll probably be assasinated before that happens actually. The thing to worry about is, Arafat has old ideas and is stubborn to keep them. Younger Palestinians are more likely to want some change in the Palestinian leadership and it's ideology and would possibly take care of him themselves.
Now of course the CIA has been known to influence a coup or two, so it's been "rumored", so if Arafat is assasinated or exiled, it wouldn't be a surprise to me if it were at the hands of American influence, but I think a subverting faction of the PLO will get to him first. Personally I'd rather see the CIA or the Israeli's (or a combined effort) take him out than some of his own people.
It won't be pretty no matter how it happens.
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