Yasser Arafat died Wednesday, but some people would argue that he died at least two years ago. He was holed up in his Palestinian compound since 2002, and has been completely left out of the peace process between Israel and Palestine.

All he managed to do in his final years was obstruct anyone who tried to bring peace between the two countries. He was only a roadblock, which perfectly describes his lifetime legacy.

The United States, Israel and probably many Palestinians have been waiting for Arafat to die for years. He created a system of corruption and terror within Palestine and botched any and every opportunity for peace. He’s been on the top of many people’s “I can’t wait for him to die” list, along with Fidel Castro, Kim Jong Il and Saddam Hussein.

Arafat will go down in history as a terrorist and the man who ruined two good opportunities for Israeli/Palestinian peace; first, the Oslo Accords in 1993, and then the Camp David negotiations in 2000. He had countless opportunities for peace and he screwed up every last one: He was invited to Washington by Bill Clinton more times than any other world leader, he was offered a Palestinian state in the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and he wasn’t held accountable for the blood on his hands.

New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman called Arafat the “Teflon Guerrilla” because none of his brutal actions marred his image as a peacemaker. He was responsible for murdering 11 Israeli athletes at the 1972 Olympics, killing two dozen Israeli school children in Ma’alot, activating the intifada in 2000 — a movement where bombs were strapped to children and sent to Israeli busses and pizzerias — and perpetuated the idea that Israel should be utterly destroyed. All that, and he managed to win a Nobel Peace Prize in 1994.

Arafat wasn’t completely bad, however. One of his great accomplishments was that he united several polarized factions of the Palestine Liberation Organization. He united Palestinian Christians, Muslims, pro-Jordanians, nationalists, radicals and moderates. In the 1960s, Arafat also brought the Palestinian struggle into the world spotlight and created an infrastructure to keep them there.

After Arafat, a new and uncertain chapter has been opened in the Middle East. Since he held onto power until the bitter end and never groomed a successor, many different Palestinian factions will wrestle for power. Finding a rallying figure like Arafat will be difficult, if not impossible.

But with Arafat gone, the Palestinians can finally elected a level-headed leader who won’t squander every chance for peace.