The main reason so far that the world is granting Arafat a pardon, despite his involvement in regional and worldwide terrorism, is that there is a much bigger issue at stake than the Palestinian problem.

The real scare is that matters will spiral out of control in the Arab world if Arafat is intentionally eliminated, causing the brutal Arab dictatorships to be destabilized and overthrown by extremist Islamic forces.

In all Arab countries, extremist Muslims, are constantly seeking to replace the current brutal Arab dictators with an equally brutal Koran-based Islamic government like the Taliban.

If the poverty-stricken, illiterate Arab masses can be whipped up in a frenzy of hatred, and start taking to the streets, like is happenning right now, then there is a possibility that the Imams could sway those masses to take out their frustration on their governments, which they hate already.

If this scenario happens in one Arab country, it is most likely to happen in several, thus altering the balance of power in the oil-rich region.

Iran is behind the Islamic extremists, providing funding, training and personnel to fuel the fires of Islamic hatred in the Middle East and elsewhere in the world.

Any destabilization could, in turn, lead to an oil-crunch at best, and a regional war a worst. In both cases, the US and global economy will be hurt, while the region could be thrown into mayhem.

That is what is feared by the Arab dictatorships, and that is why there is so much pressure on Israel not to eliminate the Palestinian terrorist leaders.

But Israel needs to stay focused and defend its own people and its own interests of survival.

If there is an upheaval in the Arab world, then it might just result in a long-term improvement, because maybe then the world will realize that it needs to present a united front against terrorism, rather than count on Israel to keep on sacrificing its own people to prop up hostile Arab governments.