With reports that Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's death is imminent, students and professors on a campus where the fate of the Middle East is often discussed as much inside the classroom as outside are speculating about what this development will mean for the region. Prof. Ilan Troen (NEJS) published an article Friday on the "Brandeis News" section of the University's Web site.

"One is almost tempted to believe that until this is resolved every effort will be made to keep Arafat on life support systems even if all hope for his revival is exhausted." Troen wrote in his article titled, "After Arafat: his demise would 'orphan' Palestinian nation."

French officials told reporters Monday that Arafat was in a coma but was not brain dead, according to The New York Times, which reported Monday evening that his wife, Suha, was maneuvering to use French privacy laws to keep her husband's condition-including his possible death-secret.

"The coma is technically reversible although it is unlikely," said a French official who was quoted in the Times.

Pesha Black '05, the president of Brit Tzedek V'Shalom, is hopeful that Arafat's death will provide an opportunity for peace between the Israelis and Palestinians-but only after a Palestinian civil war.

"I believe the silent majority of Palestinians who favor a negotiated peace settlement with Israel in order to create a sovereign Palestinian state will manage to take control of their government," Black said.

Also mentioning the possibility of a civil war following the 75-year-old's death, Josh Koppel '08, a member of the Brandeis Israel Public Affairs Committee, said that Arafat, during his time at the helm of the Palestine Liberation Organization effort to create an independent state in Israel, aided terrorist organizations and made no attempt to end ongoing violence.

"His passing will make way for the possibility of a Palestinian Authority that will truly want to end the conflict and reach a just and permanent solution," Koppel '08 said.

In his article, Troen wrote that communication between Israeli and Palestinian leadership in the wake of Arafat's death will be crucial.

Troen said that Arafat's burial location may be a cause of conflict.

"There is no doubt that his internment will take place within Palestine, but Israel is certain to ensure that wherever his shrine will be, it will not add more fuel to an already incendiary situation."

In an op-ed published last Friday in The Washington Post, Dennis Ross, a past visiting professor at Brandeis and an envoy to the Middle East for former President Bill Clinton, wrote that "an era is coming to an end in the Middle East."

Ross described Arafat not just as a political leader, but a "symbol" and a "father figure" for the Palestinian cause, too. He also suggested that the terrorist organization Hamas might cease its violent activities if a new, democratically-elected leadership emerged. But he hinted the leadership of Arafat's successors would depend on the Palestinian people having a say in the transition.

Prof. Avigdor Levy (NEJS) said that Arafat has refused to designate a successor and has effectively held tightly to all power. Therefore, according to Levy, Arafat's death is not likely to cause any major immediate changes in the region.

"This is due to the fact that the Palestinian leadership is deeply fragmented and divided, as is Palestinian society as a whole," Levy wrote in an e-mail. "In the short term we are likely to see the emergence of a collective Palestinian leadership since no one leader has particularly distinguished himself."

According to Koppel and Yuval Simchi-Levi '05, a leader of the Arab-Israeli Dialogue Group, Mahmoud Abbas, who served as prime minister for seven months last year, is among the more moderate Palestinian leaders who may come to power.

Simchi-Levi warns that simply because his record is more moderate does not guarantee that Abbas will remain moderate in the future.

"It is too difficult to say if the individual who succeeds Arafat is more or less extreme than Arafat because it depends on how that individual deals with the militant groups," Simchi-Levi said. "If the militant groups paint the new leader as too soft on Israel, the leader maybe forced to become more extreme in order to appeal to the constituents of the militant groups.