The civilized world waits with baited breath for that miserable old bastard to die.

A team of doctors has arrived at Yasser Arafat's headquarters in Ramallah where the ailing Palestinian leader's health has significantly deteriorated.

One cabinet minister, who asked not be identified, told Reuters that Mr Arafat, 75, was "very, very sick".

I'm not an evil person for wanting this. I hope that it happens quickly for him, and with little pain - the way a person would die in say, oh, I dunno, a suicide bombing on a bus or something. It doesn't have to drag out painfully. Besides, I have a short attention span, so the sooner the better.

Let's take a quick look at some of the greatest recent accomplishments of the Palestinian leader.

June 1 2001: Hamas suicide bomber kills 23 young party-goers outside a Tel Aviv beach-front nightclub.

August 9 2001: Eighteen people are killed when a Hamas bomber blows himself up at a pizzeria in central west Jerusalem.

October 17 2001: A PFLP (Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine) unit assassinates Israel's tourism minister Rehavam Zeevi.

27 March 2002: In the Israeli resort of Netanya, a bomber blows himself up at a hotel, killing 28 Israelis celebrating Passover. The attack claimed by the armed wing of Hamas was the deadliest since the beginning of the uprising.

September 9 2003: Two Hamas suicide bombers kill 15 people in attacks in Jerusalem and near Tel Aviv.

October 4 2003: Twenty-one people are killed in a suicide bombing by a female member of Islamic Jihad on a restaurant in Haifa on the eve of the Jewish fast of Yom Kippur.

January 31 2004: Palestinian suicide bomber kills 11 passengers on Jerusalem bus outside Sharon's residence.

February 22 2004: Eight passengers killed in a suicide bombing on a bus in Jerusalem.

March 14 2004: Ten Israelis killed in a twin suicide attack in the southern port of Ashdod in a joint attack by Hamas and the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades.

He will be sorely missed - at least by political and war correspondents around the world, who need his antics in order to have a story to file.