On Friday evening a French medical spokesman, Gen. Christian Estripeau, said only that Arafat's "health has not worsened since yesterday." Arafat is among the best-known people in the world, and "his face was like the flag of Palestine," said Shibley Telhami, a political scientist at the University of Maryland. No one else will have his credibility with the Palestinians, who gave him, like a father, the benefit of the doubt on major choices.