The world reacted to the death of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat yesterday by waving flags… The world reacted to the death of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat yesterday by waving flags and by burning them. Cheers went up in some Israeli settlements, while tears were shed in Palestinian homes.

The Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, a Gaza-based militant group that has claimed responsibility for several suicide bombings in the past, renamed themselves the Martyr Yasser Arafat Brigades, according to the Associated Press. According to another Associated Press report, a Palestinian woman named her newborn twin sons Yasser and Arafat yesterday, saying she was “so proud the name of Yasser Arafat will be in my house everyday.”

Although many people are grieving for Arafat’s death, some see the event as a chance to end conflict.

“This is a wonderful opportunity for Palestinian voices of peace and democracy to come forward and get back on the road to peace,” said Aaron Weil, executive director of Pitt’s Hillel Jewish University Center. Weil lived in Israel for 10 years and saw Arafat’s Fatah movement clash with Israeli forces in 2000.

“The passing of Arafat is like the passing of Pol Pot or Hitler,” Weil added.

Rania Jubran, president of Pitt Students for Justice in Palestine, said, “The Israeli government has always said peace was impossible because of Arafat.”

Jubran believes Arafat was blamed for not cracking down on suicide bombers who wrought destruction on Israeli cities, although he was confined to his compound in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

“We hope that Israel and the United States can plan a new peace process to end the occupation and return Palestinian refugees to their homes,” Jubran said, referring to the contested territories of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

The death of Arafat creates a new factor in the shaky relationship between Israelis and Palestinians. Israel’s project of building a security fence between Israeli and Palestinian settlements has made it difficult for both groups to travel freely in the West Bank. The fence is considered a final effort to end violence by complete separation.

Last Saturday, Students for Justice in Palestine protested Pitt’s investment in companies that aid Israel in building the fence. Students carried signs, chanted, and performed a puppet show depicting an Israeli driving an American bulldozer, destroying a Palestinian home in the path of the fence.

Hours after Arafat’s death, the Associated Press reported that the Palestinian Liberation Organization elected former Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas as Arafat’s successor as party chief. Everyone who commented on Arafat’s passing, regardless of their political views, expressed hope for the same goal: peace.