Yasser Arafat

Not to be confused with Yasir Arafat (cricketer).

ياسر عرفات Yasser Arafat (Yāsir `Arafāt) Kunya: Abu `Ammar (أبو عمّار; 'Abū `Ammār)
1st President of the Palestinian National Authority
In office January 20, 1996 – November 11, 2004
Succeeded by	Rawhi Fattouh (interim) Mahmoud Abbas
Personal details
Born	August 4 or August 24, 1929 Cairo
Died	(2004-11-11)November 11, 2004, Age 75 Paris
Nationality	Palestinian
Political party	Fatah
Spouse	Suha Arafat

Mohammed Abdel Rahman Abdel Raouf Arafat al-Qudwa al-Husseini (August 24, 1929 – November 11, 2004; محمد عبد الرحمن عبد الرؤوف عرفات القدوة الحسيني), popularly known as Yasser Arafat, was a Palestinian guerrilla soldier and politician. As Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization and President of the Palestinian National Authority, Arafat continuously fought with Israeli forces in the name of Palestinian self-determination. Arafat spent much of his life leading the secular Fatah organization/political party, which he founded between 1958–1960. Originally opposed to Israel's existence, he modified his position in 1988 when he accepted UN Security Council Resolution 242.

Arafat was constantly surrounded by controversy, as in the late 1960s and early 1970s, when Fatah faced off with Jordan in a civil war. Forced out of Jordan and into Lebanon, Arafat and Fatah were the targets of Israel's 1978 and 1982 invasions of that country. Arafat was said to be a key planner of the Black September organization's murder of 11 Israeli athletes at the 1972 Summer Olympics. The majority of the Palestinian people – regardless of political ideology or faction – viewed him as a heroic freedom fighter and martyr who symbolized the national aspirations of his people. However, many Israelis have described him as an unrepentant terrorist.

Later in his career, Arafat engaged in a series of negotiations with the government of Israel to end the decades-long war between that country and the Palestinians. These included the Madrid Conference of 1991, the 1993 Oslo Accords and the 2000 Camp David Summit. His political rivals, including Islamists and several PLO leftists, often denounced him for being corrupt or too submissive in his concessions to the Israeli government. In 1994, Arafat received the Nobel Peace Prize, together with Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres, for the negotiations at Oslo. During this time, Hamas and other militant organizations rose to power and shook the foundation of authority claimed by Fatah and Arafat.

In late 2004, after effectively being confined within his Ramallah compound for over two years by Israeli Defense Forces, Arafat became ill and fell into a coma. While the exact cause of death remains unknown, doctors spoke of idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura and cirrhosis. Rumors circulated – and continue to – that he had been poisoned or succumbed to HIV/AIDS. Arafat died on November 11 at the age of 75.

Early life

Birth and childhood

Arafat was born in Cairo to Palestinian parents. His father, Abdel Raouf al-Qudwa al-Husseini, was a Gazan with an Egyptian mother. He worked as a textile merchant in Cairo's culturally mixed Sakanini District. Arafat was the second-youngest of seven children and was (along with his younger brother Fathi) the only offspring born in Cairo. His mother, Zahwa Abul Saoud, died from a kidney ailment in 1933, when Arafat was five years of age. Arafat's first connection to Jerusalem came when his father, unable to raise seven children, sent him and his brother Fathi to their mother's family in the Old City. They lived there with their uncle Selim Abul Saoud for four years. In 1937 their father recalled them to be taken care of by their older sister Inam. Arafat had a deteriorating relationship with his father; when he died in 1952, Arafat did not attend the funeral. Neither did he visit his father's grave upon his return to Gaza.

In the years preceding Arafat's birth, the Middle East was under Ottoman authority. In 1916, Arabs from the Hejaz backed by Britain led a two-year revolt against the Ottomans. Also in this time period, under the Sykes-Picot Agreement, the region was divided into British and French mandates. In late 1917, the British agreed on the establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine as stated by the Balfour Declaration of 1917.

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Cairo University

Education and 1948 Arab-Israeli War

In 1947, Arafat enrolled in the University of King Fuad I and graduated in 1950. He later claimed to have sought a better understanding of Judaism and Zionism by engaging in discussions with Jews and reading publications by Theodor Herzl and other prominent Zionists. However, during this period in his life he became an Arab nationalist and began procuring weapons to be smuggled into the former British Mandate of Palestine, for use by irregulars in the Arab Higher Committee and the Holy War Army militias. During the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, Arafat left the University and, along with other Arabs, sought to enter Palestine to join Arab forces fighting in the name of Palestinian independence against Israeli troops. However, instead of joining the ranks of the Holy War Army, Arafat fought alongside the Muslim Brotherhood, although he did not officially join the organization. He took part in combat in the Gaza area (which was the main battleground of Egyptian forces during the conflict). In early 1949 the war was winding down in Israel's favor, and Arafat returned to Cairo from a lack of logistical support.

After returning to the University, Arafat served as president of the Union of Palestinian Students from 1952 to 1956. During his first year as president of the union, the University was renamed Cairo University after a coup was carried out by the Free Officers Movement overthrowing King Farouk I. By that time, Arafat had graduated with a bachelor's degree in civil engineering and was called to duty to fight with Egyptian forces during the Suez Crisis; however, he never actually fought on the battlefield. Later that year, at a conference in Prague, he donned a solid white keffiyeh – different from the checkered one he adopted later in Kuwait, which became his emblem.

Name

Arafat's original full name was Mohammed Abdel Rahman Abdel Raouf Arafat al-Qudwa al-Husseini. Mohammed Abdel Rahman was his first name; Abdel Raouf was his father's name and Arafat his grandfather's. Al-Qudwa was the name of his family and al-Husseini was that of the clan to which the al-Quduas belonged. It should be noted that Arafat's clan, al-Husseini was based in Gaza and should not be confused with the well-known but unrelated al-Husseini clan of Jerusalem. However, since the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Hajj Amin al-Husseini and the Palestinian nationalist fighter Abd al-Qadr al-Husseini belonged to this clan, he at times claimed to be related for the purpose of entwining his heritage with Palestinian political lore.

Since Arafat was raised in Cairo, the tradition of dropping the Mohammed or Ahmad portion of one's first name was common; notable Egyptians such as Anwar Sadat and Hosni Mubarak did so. However, Arafat also dropped the Abdel Rahman and Abdel Raouf parts of his name as well. During the early 1950s Arafat adopted the name Yasser after Yasser bin Ammar, a celebrated Muslim warrior. (In the early years of Arafat's guerrilla career he assumed the nom de guerre of Abu Ammar for the same reason.) He dropped most of his other names but kept Arafat due to its significance in Islam.

Rise of Fatah

Founding of Fatah

As a result of the Suez Crisis in 1956, Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser, a leader of the Free Officers Movement, agreed to allow the United Nations Emergency Force to establish itself in the Sinai Peninsula and Gaza Strip, causing the expulsion of all guerrilla or "fedayeen" forces there – including Arafat. He originally struggled to obtain a visa to Canada and later Saudi Arabia, but was unsuccessful in both attempts. In 1957, he applied for a visa to Kuwait (at the time a British protectorate) and was approved, based on his work in civil engineering. There he encountered two Palestinian friends he had met in the Cairo University, Salah Khalaf (Abu Iyad) and Khalil al-Wazir (Abu Jihad), both official members of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood. They became Arafat's right-hand men in future politics. Abu Iyad traveled with Arafat to Kuwait in late in 1957; Abu Jihad, also working as a teacher, had been living there. In 1960, Abu Iyad helped Arafat obtain a temporary job as a schoolteacher.

The Palestinian flag, adopted by the PLO in 1964

As Arafat began to develop friendships with other Palestinian refugees from Gaza (some of whom he also knew from his Cairo days), he gradually founded the group that became known as Fatah. There is no exact date of Fatah's establishment; however, in the years 1958–1960, the group began to emerge from a Palestinian nationalist magazine, Filastununa Nida al-Hayat (Our Palestine, The Call of Life), which was written and edited by the organization's founding members. FaTaH is a reverse acronym of the Arabic name Harakat al-Tahrir al-Watani al-Filastini which translates into "The Palestinian National Liberation Movement". Fatah is also a word which was used in early Islamic times to refer to "conquest".

Fatah dedicated itself to the liberation of Palestine and subsequent destruction of Israel by an armed struggle carried out by the Palestinians themselves. This differed from other Palestinian political and guerrilla organizations, most of which firmly believed in a united Arab response. Arafat's organization never committed to the ideologies of major Arab national governments of the time, while other Palestinian factions formed satellites of nations such as Egypt, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Syria and others.

In accordance with his own ideology, Arafat generally refused to accept donations to his organization from major Arab governments, in order to act independently of them. He did not want to alienate them, and sought their undivided support by avoiding alliances with groups loyal to other ideologies. He worked hard in Kuwait, however, to establish the groundwork for Fatah's future financial support by enlisting contributions from the many wealthy Palestinians working there and other Gulf States, such as Qatar (where he met Mahmoud Abbas in 1961). These businessmen and oil workers contributed generously to the Fatah organization. Arafat continued this process in other Arab countries such as Libya and Syria.

During 1962–1966, Arafat and his closest companions immigrated to Syria – a country sharing a border with Israel – which had recently seceded from a union with Nasser's Egypt. In Syria he was able to recruit members with a higher outcome and eventually commence his armed struggle against Israel. Before this time, Fatah had approximately three hundred members but no fighters. Gradually, however, Fatah's manpower increased as a result of Arafat's decision to offer much higher salaries to members of the Palestine Liberation Army (PLA), the regular military force of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), which was created by the Arab League in the summer of 1964. On December 31 of that same year, al-Assifa – the armed branch of Fatah at the time – attempted to infiltrate Israel, but they were intercepted and detained by Lebanese security forces. Several other successful and failed raids, many times personally led by Arafat himself, took place after this incident with Fatah's poorly-trained and badly-equipped fighters.

Leader of the Palestinians

On November 13, 1966, Israel launched a major raid against the Jordanian-administered West Bank town of as-Samu, in response to a Fatah-implemented roadside bomb attack, which killed three members of the Israeli security forces near the southern Green Line border. The resulting skirmish had killed scores of Jordanian security forces and 125 homes were razed. This raid was one of several factors that led to the 1967 Six Day War.

Israel launched an preemptive air strike against Egypt's air force on June 5, 1967, commencing the Six Day War. The war ended in Arab defeat and Israel seizing several Arab territories, including the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Although Nasser and his Arab allies were defeated, Arafat and Fatah were in a way victorious, as the majority of Palestinians – once siding and sympathizing with individual Arab governments – began to agree with a "Palestinian" resolution to their dilemma. Many primarily Palestinian political parties, including George Habash's Arab Nationalist Movement, Hajj Amin al-Husseini's Arab Higher Committee, the Islamic Liberation Front and several Syrian-backed groups, virtually crumbled after their sponsor governments' loss. Just a week later, a disguised Arafat crossed the Jordan River into the West Bank and set up recruitment centers in Hebron, the Jerusalem area and Nablus, and began attracting fighters and financiers.

Nasser contacted Arafat through Mohammed Heikal (one of Nasser's advisers) and Arafat was declared by Nasser to be the leader of the Palestinians. In December, Ahmad Shukeiri resigned his post as PLO Chairman. Yahya Hammuda took his place and invited Arafat to join the organization. Fatah was allocated 33 of 105 seats of the PLO Executive Committee while 57 seats were left for several other guerrilla factions.

Battle of Karameh

Throughout 1968 Fatah and other Palestinian armed groups were the target of a major Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) operation in the Jordanian village of Karameh, where the Fatah headquarters – as well as a mid-sized Palestinian refugee camp – were located. The town's name is the Arabic word for "dignity", which elevated its symbolism to the Arab people, especially after the Arab defeat in 1967. The operation was in response to attacks against Israel, including rockets attacks from Fatah and other Palestinian militias into the occupied West Bank. Knowledge of the operation was available well ahead of time, and the government of Jordan (as well as a number of Fatah commandos) informed Arafat of Israel's large-scale military preparations. Upon hearing the news, many guerrilla groups in the area, including George Habash's newly formed group the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and Nayef Hawatmeh's breakaway organization the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), withdrew their forces from the town. Arafat was advised by a pro-Fatah Jordanian divisional commander to withdraw his men and headquarters to nearby hills, but Arafat refused, stating, "We want to convince the world that there are those in the Arab world who will not withdraw or flee". On Arafat's orders, Fatah remained, and the Jordanian Army agreed to back them if heavy fighting ensued.

On the night of March 21, the IDF attacked Karameh with heavy weaponry, armored vehicles and fighter jets. Fatah held its ground, surprising the Israeli military. As Israel's forces intensified their campaign, the Jordanian Army became involved, causing the Israelis to retreat in order to avoid a full-scaled war. By the end of the battle nearly 150 Fatah militants were killed, as well as twenty Jordanian soldiers and twenty-eight Israeli soldiers.Despite the higher Arab death toll, Fatah considered themselves victorious because of the Israeli army's rapid withdrawal. Arafat himself was on the battlefield, but the details of his involvement are unclear. However, his allies – as well as Israeli intelligence – confirm that he urged his men throughout the battle to hold their ground and continue fighting.

The battle was covered in detail by Time, and Arafat's face appeared on the cover of the December 13, 1968 issue, bringing his image to the world for the first time. Amid the post-war environment, the profiles of Arafat and Fatah were raised by this important turning point, and he came to be regarded as a national hero who dared to confront Israel. With mass applause from the Arab World, financial donations increased significantly, and Fatah's weaponry and equipment improved. The group's numbers swelled as many young Arabs, including thousands of non-Palestinians, joined the ranks of Fatah.

At the Palestinian National Council in Cairo on February 3, 1969, Yahya Hammuda ceded his duty as chairman of the PLO. Arafat took over, became commander-in-chief of the Palestinian Revolutionary Forces two years later, and in 1973 he became the head of the PLO's political department.

Jordan

See also: Black September in Jordan

Arafat with Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine leader, Nayef Hawatmeh and Palestinian writer Kamal Nasser at press conference in Amman in the summer of 1970

In the 1960s, tensions between Palestinians and the Jordanian government increased greatly; heavily armed Arab resistance elements had created a virtual "state within a state" in Jordan, eventually controlling several strategic positions in that country. These included the oil refinery near az-Zarqa, as well as the bulk of the Palestinian refugee camps, several neighborhoods, and other areas in northern Jordanian cities such as Amman and Irbid. After their victory in the Battle of Karameh, Fatah and other Palestinian militias began taking control of civil life in Jordan. They set up roadblocks, publicly humiliated Jordanian police forces, molested women and levied illegal taxes – all of which Arafat either condoned or ignored. King Hussein considered this a growing threat to his kingdom's sovereignty and security, and attempted to disarm the militias. However, in order to avoid a military confrontation with opposition forces, Hussein dismissed several of his anti-PLO cabinet officials, including some of his own family members, and invited Arafat to become Prime Minister of Jordan. Arafat refused, citing his ideology of a Palestinian state with Palestinian leadership.

A unit of fighters belonging to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine in Jordan, 1969

Despite Hussein's intervention, militant actions in Jordan continued. On September 15, 1970, the PFLP hijacked five planes and landed three of them at Dawson's Field, located 30 miles (48 km) east of Amman. After the passengers were moved to other locations, three of the planes were blown up. This tarnished Arafat's image to many western nations, including the United States, who held him responsible for controlling Palestinian factions that belonged to the PLO. Arafat, bowing to pressure from Arab governments, publicly condemned the hijackings and suspended the PFLP from any guerrilla actions for a few weeks. (He had taken the same action after the PFLP attacked Athens Airport.) The Jordanian government moved to regain control over its territory, and the next day, King Hussein declared martial law. On the same day, Arafat became supreme commander of the PLA.

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Arafat and Abu Jihad meet Gamal Abdel Nasser upon arrival in Cairo to attend first emergency Arab League summit

As the conflict raged, other Arab governments attempted to negotiate a peaceful resolution. As part of this effort, Gamal Abdel Nasser led the first ever emergency Arab League summit in Cairo on September 21. Arafat's speech drew sympathy from attending Arab leaders; other heads of state took sides against Hussein, even mocking him and his father King Talal. The attempt to establish a peace agreement between the two sides failed. Nasser died of a massive heart attack hours after the summit.

By September 24, the Jordanian army achieved dominance, and the PLA agreed to a series of ceasefires. The Jordanian army inflicted heavy casualties upon the Palestinians – including civilians – who suffered approximately 3,400 fatalities. Arafat and a number of his Fatah forces, including two high commanders, Abu Iyad and Abu Jihad, were forced into the northern corner of Jordan. They relocated near the town of Jerash, which borders Syria and Israel. With the help of Munib Masri, a pro-Palestinian Jordanian cabinet member, and Fahd al-Khomeimi, the Saudi ambassador to Jordan, Arafat managed to enter Syria with nearly two thousand of his fighters. They crossed the border into Lebanon to join Fatah forces in that country, where they set up their new headquarters.

Lebanon

Terrorist attacks in 1970s and official recognition

Because of Lebanon's weak central government, the PLO was able to operate virtually as an independent state. During this time in the 1970s, numerous leftist PLO groups appeared on the armed front against Israel, carrying out attacks against civilian targets both within Israel and outside of it.

In 1972, the Black September organization hijacked a Sabena flight en route to Vienna and forced it to land at the Ben Gurion Airport in Lod, Israel. The PFLP, with the aid of the Japanese Red Army, carried out a shooting rampage at the same airport, killing twenty-four civilians. Israel responded by assassinating the PFLP spokesman, Ghassan Kanafani and his niece. Two days later, various PLO factions retaliated by bombing a bus station, killing eleven civilians.

A plaque in front of the Israeli athletes' quarters commemorating the victims of the Munich massacre

At the Munich Olympic Games, Black September kidnapped and killed eleven Israeli athletes. A number of sources – including Mohammed Oudeh (Abu Daoud), one of the masterminds of the Munich massacre, and Benny Morris, a prominent Israeli historian – have stated that Black September was an armed branch of Fatah used for paramilitary operations. According to Abu Daoud's 1999 book, "Arafat was briefed on plans for the Munich hostage-taking." The killings were internationally condemned. In 1973–4, Arafat closed Black September down, ordering the PLO to withdraw from acts of violence outside Israel, the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

In 1974, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine - General Command (PFLP-GC) carried out a shooting raid on the northern Israeli town of Qiryat Shemona resulting in the deaths of eighteen civilians. Militants from the DFLP - disguised as Israeli soldiers - stormed a school in Ma'alot and killed twenty-one students. Israel retaliated by bombing seven Palestinian refugee camps in Southern Lebanon killing twenty-seven civilians.

Also in 1974, the PNC approved the Ten Point Program (drawn up by Arafat and his advisers), and proposed a compromise with the Israelis. It stated that there be a Palestinian national authority over every part of liberated Palestinian territory, referring to areas captured by Arab forces in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War (present-day West Bank and Gaza Strip). This caused discontent among several of the PLO factions; the PFLP, DFLP and other parties formed a breakaway organization, the Rejectionist Front. The Fatah movement continued to launch attacks against Israeli civilians and security forces from Lebanon.

Israel and the US also alleged that Arafat was involved in the Khartoum diplomatic assassinations, in which five diplomats and five others were killed. Arafat denied any involvement in the operation and insisted it was carried out independently by the Black September group. However, a 1973 United States Department of State document, declassified in 2006, concluded "The Khartoum operation was planned and carried out with the full knowledge and personal approval of Yasser Arafat."

Israel and the US claimed that Arafat was in ultimate control over these organizations, and therefore had not abandoned terrorism.

In the same year, Arafat became the first representative of a non-governmental organization to address a plenary session of the UN General Assembly. In his UN address, Arafat condemned Zionism, but said, "Today I have come bearing an olive branch and a freedom fighter's gun. Do not let the olive branch fall from my hand." His speech increased international support for the Palestinian cause. The PLO was admitted to full membership in the Arab League in 1976.

Fatah involvement in Lebanese Civil War

See also: Lebanese Civil War

Arafat in Palestinian refugee camp in Southern Lebanon, 1978

Although hesitant at first to take sides in the conflict, Arafat and Fatah played an important role in the Lebanese Civil War. Succumbing to pressure from PLO sub-groups such as the PFLP, DFLP and the Palestine Liberation Front (PLF), Arafat aligned the PLO with the Lebanese Nasserist Sunni group al-Murabitun, and the primarily Druze Progressive Socialist Party (PSP). A major element of the Lebanese National Movement (LNM), the PSP was led by Kamal Jumblatt, who had a friendly relationship with Arafat. Although originally aligned with Arafat's Fatah group, Syrian President Hafez al-Assad feared a loss of influence in Lebanon and switched sides. He sent his army, along with the Syrian-backed Palestinian factions of as-Sa'iqa and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine - General Command (PFLP-GC) led by Ahmad Jibril to fight alongside the radical right-wing Christian forces against the PLO and the LNM. The primary component of the Christian side was the Maronite Christian Phalangists loyal to President Camille Chamoun.

In February 1975 Chamoun loyalists assassinated a pro-Palestinian politician Ma'arouf Sa'ad. Phalangist forces killed twenty-six PLO trainees on a bus the next month. Arafat was reluctant to use force but many Fatah and PLO members felt otherwise. For example, the DFLP carried out several consistent attacks against the Lebanese Army, a primary backer of the Christian militias. In 1976, an alliance of Christian militias with the backing of the Lebanese Army besieged the Tel al-Zaatar refugee camp. The PLO and LNM retaliated by attacking the town of Damour, a Phalangist stronghold. Over 330 people were killed and many more wounded. Arafat referred to the attack as an "hour of destiny". The Tel al-Zaatar camp fell to the Christians after a six-month siege, and a massacre followed in which thousands of Palestinians were killed. Arafat and Abu Jihad blamed themselves for not successfully organizing a rescue effort.

PLO cross-border raids against Israel grew somewhat during the late 1970s. One of the most severe - known as the Coastal Road Massacre - occurred on March 11, 1978. A force of nearly a dozen Fatah fighters landed their boats near a major coastal road connecting the city of Haifa with Tel Aviv-Yafo. There they hijacked a bus and sprayed gunfire inside and at passing vehicles, killing thirty-seven civilians. In response, the IDF launched Operation Litani three days later, with the goal of taking control of Southern Lebanon up to the Litani River. The IDF achieved this goal, and Arafat withdrew PLO forces north into Beirut.

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Arafat addressing his officers shortly before exile from Lebanon

After Israel withdrew from Lebanon, PLO forces resumed firing rockets into the Galilee region of Israel, prompting another invasion in 1982. Beirut was soon besieged and bombarded by the IDF; Arafat declared the city to be the "second Hanoi and Stalingrad." The Civil War's first phase ended and Arafat - who was commanding Fatah forces at Tel al-Zaatar - narrowly escaped with assistance from Saudi and Kuwaiti diplomats. To end the siege, the US and European governments brokered an agreement guaranteeing safe passage for Arafat and the PLO – guarded by a multinational force of eight hundred US Marines supported by the US Navy – to exile in Tunis. At the siege's end, Beirut was in ruins, with close to 17,000 civilians dead.

Arafat returned to Lebanon a year after his eviction from Beirut, this time establishing himself in the northern city of Tripoli. Instead of being expelled by Israel, in this case, Arafat was expelled by a fellow Palestinian working under Hafez al-Assad. Arafat did not return to Lebanon after his second expulsion, though many Fatah fighters did.

Tunisia and First Intifada

Tunis, the capital of Tunisia, was the center of operations for Arafat and his fighters until 1993. In 1985 he narrowly survived an Israeli assassination attempt when Israeli Air Force F-15s bombed his headquarters there as part of Operation Wooden Leg, leaving 73 people dead. Arafat had gone out jogging that morning.

During the 1980s, Arafat received financial assistance from Libya, Iraq and Saudi Arabia, which allowed him to reconstruct the badly-battered PLO. This was particularly useful during the First Intifada in December 1987, which began as an uprising of Palestinian youth against the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The word Intifada in Arabic is literally translated as "shaking off", however, it is generally defined as a rebellion or revolt. The first stage of the Intifada was a response to an incident at the Erez checkpoint where an Israeli truck unintentionally hit a group of Palestinian laborers, killing four of them. However, within weeks Arafat was attempting to direct the revolt which lasted until 1992–1993, and Israelis believe that Fatah forces in the West Bank formerly set up by Abu Jihad were essential for continuing the civil unrest for the duration. On April 16, 1988, as the Intifada was raging, Abu Jihad was assassinated by an Israeli hit squad. Arafat considered Abu Jihad as a PLO counterweight to local West Bank leadership, and led a funeral procession for him in Damascus.

The most common tactic used by Palestinians during the Intifada was throwing stones at IDF tanks, which became a symbol of the uprising. The local leadership in Beit Sahour, a large town adjacent to Bethlehem, commenced non-violent protests against Israeli occupation by engaging in tax resistance and other boycotts. Israel responded by blockading the town and confiscating large sums of money in house-to-house raids. In the last years of the Intifada, armed Palestinian groups – in particular Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) – began targeting Israeli civilians with the new tactic of suicide-bombing. As the intifada came to an end, internal fighting amongst the Palestinians increased dramatically.

On November 15, 1988, the PLO proclaimed the independent State of Palestine. In speeches on December 13 and December 14, Arafat accepted UN Security Council Resolution 242, Israel's right "to exist in peace and security" and renounced "terrorism in all its forms, including state terrorism". Arafat's statements were greeted with approval by the US administration, which had long insisted on these statements as a necessary starting point for official discussions between the US and the PLO. These remarks from Arafat indicated a shift away from one of the PLO's primary aims – the destruction of Israel (as in the Palestinian National Covenant) – and toward the establishment of two separate entities: an Israeli state within the 1949 armistice lines, and an Arab state in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. On April 2, 1989, Arafat was elected by the Central Council of the Palestine National Council, the governing body of the PLO, to be the president of the proclaimed State of Palestine. Prior to Arafat's marriage in 1991, he adopted fifty Palestinian war orphans.

During the 1991 Madrid Conference, Israel conducted open negotiations with the PLO for the first time. Prior to the Gulf War, Arafat embraced Saddam Hussein and opposed the US attack on Iraq, alienating many of the Arab states that supported the US-led coalition. Many in the US also used Arafat's position as a reason to disregard his claims of being a partner for peace.

Arafat narrowly escaped death again on April 7, 1992, when his aircraft crash-landed in the Libyan Desert during a sandstorm. Two pilots and an engineer were killed; Arafat was bruised and shaken

Palestinian Authority and peace negotiations

1993 Oslo Accords

Yitzhak Rabin, Bill Clinton, and Arafat during the Oslo Accords on September 13, 1993

In the early 1990s, Arafat and leading Fatah officials engaged the Israeli government in a series of secret talks and negotiations that led to the 1993 Oslo Accords. The agreement called for the implementation of Palestinian self-rule in portions of the West Bank and Gaza Strip over a five year period, along with an immediate halt to and gradual removal of Israeli settlements in those areas. The accords called for a Palestinian police force to be formed from local recruits and Palestinians abroad, to patrol areas of self-rule. Authority over the various fields of rule, including education and culture, social welfare, direct taxation and tourism, would be transferred to the Palestinian interim government. Both parties also agreed on forming a committee that would establish cooperation and coordination dealing with specific economic sectors, including utilities, industry, trade and communication.

Prior to signing the accords, Arafat – as Chairman of the PLO and its official representative – signed two letters renouncing violence and officially recognizing Israel on September 9, 1993. In return, Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, on behalf of Israel, officially recognized the PLO.

The following year Arafat and Rabin were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, along with Shimon Peres. Arafat returned to the Palestinian territories as a hero to the members and supporters of Fatah. He was considered a traitor and collaborator by other factions, in particular the Islamists as well as the Communists and Arab nationalists of the Palestinian left-wing. In 1994, Arafat moved to Gaza City, one of the territories controlled by the Palestinian Authority (PA) – the provisional entity created by the Oslo Accords. On July 24, 1995, Arafat's wife Suha gave birth to a daughter, named Zahwa after his deceased mother.

Palestinian elections and other peace agreements

On January 20, 1996, Arafat was elected president of the PA, with an overwhelming 88.2% majority (the only other candidate was the charity organizer Samiha Khalil). However, because Hamas and other popular opposition movements chose not to participate in the presidential elections, the choices were limited. Arafat's landslide victory guaranteed Fatah 51 of the 88 seats in the Palestinian Legislative Council. The following elections scheduled for January 2002 were later postponed – the stated reason was an inability to campaign due to the emergency conditions imposed by the al-Aqsa intifada, as well as IDF incursions and restrictions on freedom of movement in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

In mid-1996, Benjamin Netanyahu was elected Prime Minister of Israel by a margin of just one percent. Palestinian-Israeli relations grew even more hostile as a result of continued conflict. Despite the Israel-PLO accord, Netanyahu opposed the idea of Palestinian statehood. In 1998, US President Bill Clinton persuaded the two leaders to meet. The resulting Wye River Memorandum of October 23, 1998 detailed the steps to be taken by the Israeli government and PA to complete the peace process.

Arafat with PA cabinet members at a meeting in Copenhagen, 1999

Arafat continued negotiations with Netanyahu's successor, Ehud Barak, at the Camp David 2000 Summit in July 2000. Due partly to his own politics (Barak was from the leftist Labor Party, whereas Netanyahu was from the rightist Likud Party) and partly due to insistence for compromise by American President Bill Clinton, Ehud Barak offered Arafat a Palestinian state in 73% of the West Bank and all of the Gaza Strip. The Palestinian percentage of sovereignty would extend to 90% over a ten to twenty-five year period. In the negotiation over Jerusalem's sovereignty, Barak insisted on annexing "Greater Jerusalem" cities such as Ma'ale Adumim and Givat Ze'ev to Israel, while handing over control of certain small towns and cities that had been attributed to Jerusalem after 1967. Israel's proposal included dismantling sixty-three settlements in the West Bank and all settlements in the Gaza Strip. Israel would control the border between what would have been the newly created state of Palestine and Jordan. This, however, would only last for a ten year period until the PLO gained enough credibility to control its own border. Also included in the offer was the return of a small number of refugees and compensation for those not allowed to return. Arafat rejected Barak's offer and refused to make an immediate counter-offer. He told President Clinton that, "the Arab leader who would surrender Jerusalem is not born yet". The move was criticized even by a member of his own negotiating team and cabinet, Nabil Amr.

Arafat with Ehud Barak and Bill Clinton at Camp David 2000 Summit

Negotiations continued at the Taba summit in January 2001; this time Ehud Barak pulled out of the talks to campaign in the Israeli elections. In the months of October and December 2001, suicide bombings by Palestinian militant groups increased and Israeli counter strikes were intensified, causing the outbreak of the al-Aqsa or Second Palestinian Intifada. Following the election of Ariel Sharon, the peace process took a steep downfall. On January 18, 2002 Sharon ordered Arafat to be confined to his Mukata'a headquarters in Ramallah, following a suicide bombing in the Israeli city of Hadera; US President George W. Bush supported Sharon's action, claiming that Arafat was "an obstacle to the peace".

Political survival

Relations with Hamas and other militant groups

Arafat's long personal and political survival was taken by most Western commentators as a sign of his mastery of asymmetric warfare and his skill as a tactician, given the extremely dangerous nature of politics of the Middle East and the frequency of assassinations. Some commentators believe his survival was largely due to Israel's fear that he could become a martyr for the Palestinian cause if he were assassinated or even arrested by Israel. Others believe that Israel refrained from taking action against Arafat because it feared Arafat less than Hamas and the other Islamist movements gaining support over Fatah. The complex and fragile web of relations between the US, Israel, Saudi Arabia, and other Arab states also contributed to Arafat's longevity as the leader of the Palestinians.

File:Arafat & Yassin 1997.jpg

Arafat greeting Ahmed Yassin, founder and spiritual leader of the Hamas organization in Gaza City, 1997

Arafat's ability to adapt to new tactical and political situations was perhaps tested by the rise of the Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad organizations, Islamist groups espousing rejectionist opposition to Israel and employing new tactics such as suicide bombing, often intentionally targeting non-military targets, such as malls and movie theaters, to increase the psychological damage. In the 1990s, these groups seemed to threaten Arafat's capacity to hold together a unified secular nationalist organization with a goal of statehood. They appeared to be out of Arafat's influence and control, and were actively fighting with Fatah. Some allege that activities of these groups were tolerated by Arafat as a means of applying pressure on Israel.

Some Israeli government officials opined in 2002 that the armed Fatah sub-group al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades commenced attacks towards Israel in order to compete with Hamas. On May 6, 2002, the Israeli government released a report, based in part on documents captured during the Israeli occupation of Arafat's Ramallah headquarters, which included copies of papers signed by Arafat authorizing funding for the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades' activities.

In March 8, the Arab League made an offer to recognize Israel in exchange for an Israeli retreat from all territories captured in the Six-Day War and statehood for Palestine and Arafat's Palestinian Authority. Supporters of this declaration saw the offer, which included recognition of Israel by the Arab states, as a historic opportunity for comprehensive peace in the region; critics said it would constitute a heavy blow to Israel's security and not guarantee Israel an end to suicide bombing attacks. Israel ignored what it deemed to be a facile offer. Shortly afterward, attacks carried out by Hamas militants killed twenty-eight Israeli civilians celebrating Passover. In response, on March 29, Israel launched Operation Defensive Shield, a major military offensive into key West Bank cities.

Attempts to marginalize

Persistent attempts by the Israeli government to identify another Palestinian leader to represent the Palestinian people failed. Arafat was enjoying the support of groups that, given his own history, would normally have been quite wary of dealing with or supporting him. Marwan Barghouti emerged as a possible replacement during the al-Aqsa Intifada, but Israel had him arrested and sentenced to five life terms. He was charged with killing twenty-six people and holding membership with the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, which Israel considers a terrorist organization.

Arafat was finally allowed to leave his compound on May 3, after intense negotiations led to a settlement: six militants wanted by Israel, who had been holed up with Arafat in his compound, would not be turned over to Israel, but neither would they be held in custody by the Palestinian Authority. Rather, a combination of British and American security personnel would ensure that the wanted men remained imprisoned in Jericho. With that, and a promise that he would issue a call in Arabic to the Palestinians to halt attacks on Israelis, Arafat was released. He issued such a call on May 8, but as with previous attempts, it was largely ignored.

On July 18, 2004, in an interview in Le Figaro, US President George W. Bush dismissed Arafat as a negotiating partner: "The real problem," he said, "is that there is no leadership that is able to say 'help us establish a state and we will fight terror and answer the needs of the Palestinians'".

Arafat had a mixed relationship at best with the leaders of other Arab nations. Arafat's support from Arab leaders tended to increase whenever he was pressured by Israel; for example, when Israel declared in 2003 it had made the decision, in principle, to remove him from the Israeli-controlled West Bank. In an interview with the Arab news network Al-Jazeera, Arafat responded to Ariel Sharon's suggestion that he be exiled from the Palestinian territories permanently, by stating, "Is it his [Sharon] homeland or ours? We were planted here before the Prophet Abraham came, but it looks like they [Israelis] don't understand history or geography."

Financial dealings

In August 2002, the Israeli Military Intelligence Chief claimed that Arafat's personal wealth was USD $1.3 billion. However, he provided no material evidence for this claim. In 2003 the International Monetary Fund (IMF) conducted an audit of the PA and stated that Arafat diverted $900 million in public funds to a special bank account controlled by Arafat and the PA Chief Economic Financial adviser. However, the IMF did not claim that there were any improprieties, and it specifically stated that most of the funds had been used to invest in Palestinian assets, both internally and abroad.

Also in 2003, a team of American accountants – hired by Arafat's own finance ministry – began examining Arafat's finances. The team claimed that part of the Palestinian leader's wealth was in a secret portfolio worth close to $1 billion, with investments in companies like a Coca-Cola bottling plant in Ramallah, a Tunisian cell phone company and venture capital funds in the US and the Cayman Islands. The head of the investigation stated that "although the money for the portfolio came from public funds like Palestinian taxes, virtually none of it was used for the Palestinian people; it was all controlled by Arafat. And none of these dealings were made public."

Although Arafat lived a fairly modest lifestyle, Dennis Ross, former Middle East negotiator for Presidents George H.W. Bush and Clinton, stated that Arafat's "walking-around money" financed a vast patronage system known as neopatrimonialism. According to Salam Fayyad, a former World Bank official whom Arafat appointed finance minister in 2002, Arafat's commodity monopolies could accurately be seen as gouging his own people, "especially in Gaza which is poorer, which is something that is totally unacceptable and immoral." According to Hanan Ashrawi, a former member of Arafat's cabinet, "Getting Mr. Arafat to hand over the holdings was like pulling teeth. Mr. Arafat gave in to pressure from aid donors such as the European Union and from his finance minister, Salam Fayyad, the IMF's former representative in the territories. They demanded that Mr. Arafat turn over the investments as a condition of further aid."

An investigation by the European Union into claims that EU funds were misused by the Palestinian Authority found no evidence that funds were diverted to finance terrorist activities. The EU "remains convinced that deepening reform in the PA and improving its financial management and audit capacities is the best preventive strategy against the misuse of funds and corruption. The reform of the financial management of the PA is the objective of several key conditions attached to the EU financial assistance." Fuad Shubaki, former financial aide to Arafat, told the Israeli security service Shin Bet that Arafat used several million dollars of aid money to buy weapons and support militant groups.

Claims by unnamed sources in the PA Finance Ministry stated that Arafat's wife, Suha, receives a stipend of $100,000 each month from the PA budget. In an interview with the London-based newspaper Al-Hayat, Mrs. Arafat accused Ariel Sharon of spreading rumors about money-laundering – involving the transfer of funds to herself – to distract media attention away from corruption allegations against him. In October 2003, French government prosecutors opened a money-laundering probe of Suha Arafat after the French finance service Tracfin alerted the prosecutors to a series of untaxed transfers of nearly $1.27 million each, from Switzerland to Mrs. Arafat's accounts in Paris.

Illness and death

First reports of Arafat's treatment by his doctors for what his spokesman said was the "flu" came on October 25, 2004, after he vomited during a meeting. His condition deteriorated in the following days. Following visits by other doctors, including teams from Tunisia, Jordan, and Egypt – and agreement by Israel not to block his return – Arafat was taken on aboard a French government jet to the Percy military hospital in Clamart, near Paris. According to one of his doctors, Arafat was suffering from Idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP), an immunologically-mediated decrease in the number of circulating platelets to abnormally low levels. On November 3, he lapsed into a gradually deepening coma. In the ensuing days, Arafat's health was the subject of some speculation, with suspicion that he was suffering from poisoning or AIDS. Various sources speculated that Arafat was comatose, in a "vegetative state" or dead, however, Palestinian authorities and Arafat's Jordanian doctor denied reports that Arafat was brain dead and had been kept on life support.

A controversy erupted between officials of the PA and Suha Arafat when officials from the PA traveled to France to see Yasser Arafat. Suha stated "They are trying to bury Abu Ammar [Arafat] alive". French law forbids physicians from discussing the condition of their patients with anybody with the exception, in case of grave prognosis, of close relatives. Accordingly, all communications concerning Yasser Arafat's health had to be authorized by Arafat's wife. Palestinian officials expressed regret that the news about Yasser Arafat was "filtered" by her.

The next day, chief surgeon Christian Estripeau of Percy reported that Arafat's condition had worsened, and that he had fallen into a deeper coma. Sheikh Taissir Tamimi, the head of the Islamic court of the Palestinian territories – who held a vigil at Arafat's bedside – visited Arafat and declared that it was out of the question to disconnect Arafat from life support machines since, according to him, such an action would be prohibited by Islam.

Arafat was pronounced dead at 3:30 am UTC on November 11 at the age of 75. The exact cause of his illness is unknown. Tamimi described it as "a very painful scene. There was blood everywhere on his face. The blood was coming from every possible place. My first reaction when I saw the scene was that I didn't understand what was going on. I closed my eyes, and I started reading from the Qur'an…". When Arafat's death was announced, the Palestinian people went into a state of mourning, with Qur'anic mourning prayers emitted from mosque loudspeakers and tires burning in the street as a sign of remorse. The PA declared an official mourning that lasted for forty days. One obituary at Socialist World said: "Many Palestinians will view the death of Yasser Arafat with a mixture of sadness and a wish that the Palestinian Authority he led, had done much more to end the poverty and oppression that blights their lives".

Some have alleged that the PLO's leader may have contracted HIV as the result of risky homosexual behavior in the years preceding the AIDS scare of the late 1980s. Arafat's sexual proclivities may have been largely ignored by Arab, and indeed other, state leaders. In September 2005, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that French experts could not determine the cause of Arafat's death. The paper quoted an Israeli AIDS expert who claimed that Arafat bore all the symptoms of AIDS, a hypothesis later rejected by the New York Times. Ion Mihai Pacepa, a Romanian intelligence chief, recorded in his memoir "Red Horizons", that Arafat had homosexual tendencies. In his autobiography, Terry McAuliffe, former US Democratic Party leader and close aide to President Bill Clinton writes that Arafat made a pass at him by rubbing his leg at a dinner.

Dr. Ashraf al-Kurdi, a personal physician of Arafat for 20 years and who also treated the Hashemite kings of Jordan, later declared that nothing in Arafat's medical report mentioned the existence of such a disease. Another "senior Israeli physician" claimed in the article in Haaretz that it was "a classic case of food poisoning", probably caused by a meal eaten four hours before he fell ill that may have contained a toxin such as ricin, rather than a standard bacterial poisoning. However, in the same week as the report in Haaretz, the New York Times published a separate report, also based on access to Arafat's medical records, which claimed that it was highly unlikely that Arafat had AIDS or food poisoning. Both publications further speculated that the cause of death may have been an infection of an unknown nature or origin. However, rumors of Arafat's poisoning have remained popular around the world, and especially among the Arab populace. Dr. al-Kurdi lamented the fact that Arafat's wife Suha had refused an autopsy, which would have answered many questions in the cause of death case. Calling for the creation of an independent commission to carry out investigations concerning Arafat's suspicious death, Dr. al-Kurdi declared to Haaretz on September 9, 2005 that "any doctor would tell you that these are the symptoms of a poisoning". He had previously told the Associated Press that Arafat had the AIDS virus and that "it was given to him to cover up the poison".

Aftermath

The entrance to Arafat's tomb in Ramallah

Arafat's tomb

Israel refused Arafat's wish to be buried in or near the al-Aqsa Mosque in East Jerusalem, citing widespread security concerns. Following a state funeral in Cairo attended by many world leaders, Arafat was "temporarily" laid to rest on November 12 within his former headquarters in Ramallah in the West Bank; the ceremony was watched by a large crowd. After Sheikh Taissir Tamimi discovered that Arafat was buried improperly and in a coffin – which is not in accordance with the Muslim religion – Arafat was reburied on the morning of November 13, at around 3:00 am.

The Canard Enchaîné newspaper reported alleged leaks of information by unnamed medical sources at Percy hospital who had access to Arafat and his medical file. According to the newspaper, the doctors at Percy hospital suspected, from Arafat's arrival, grave lesions of the liver responsible for an alteration of the composition of the blood; Arafat was therefore placed in a hematology service. Leukemia was soundly ruled out. According to the same source, the reason why this diagnosis of cirrhosis could not be made available was that, in the mind of the general public, cirrhosis is generally associated with the consequences of alcohol abuse. Even though the diagnosis was not of an alcoholic cirrhosis and Arafat was not known for consuming any alcohol, there was a likelihood of rumors. The source explained that Arafat's conditions of life during the last three years did not improve the situation: Arafat did not get health care appropriate to his state. Thus, according to the source, the probable causes of the disease were multiple; Arafat's coma was a consequence of the worsened cirrhosis. The French newspaper Le Monde quoted doctors as saying that he suffered from "an unusual blood disease and a liver problem".

Paris deputy Claude Goasguen asked for a parliamentary inquiry commission on the death of Arafat in an attempt to quell rumors. The French government insisted that there was no evidence Arafat had been poisoned; otherwise, a criminal investigation would have necessarily been opened.

After Arafat's death, the French Ministry of Defense said that Arafat's medical file would only be transmitted to his next of kin. It was determined that Arafat's nephew and PA envoy to the UN, Nasser al-Qudwa, was a close enough relative, thus working around Suha Arafat's mutism on her husband's illness. Nasser al-Qudwa was given a copy of Arafat's 558-page medical file by the French Ministry of Defense.

A controversy erupted around Arafat's death certificate. While Arafat's own personal biography listed Cairo as his place of birth, French authorities chose to note his place of birth as Jerusalem instead. French officials claimed that Jerusalem was specified by the documents provided to the French ministry of foreign affairs when Arafat's wife acquired French citizenship; however, France has refused all requests to make these documents public. French officials flatly refused Israel's request to provide proof that Arafat was born in Jerusalem and not Cairo. The Simon Wiesenthal Center later called on France "to investigate the circumstances of the false and incomplete registration of Arafat's death certificate, to correct the erroneous details of his birthplace, adding the truth of his parentage and the cause of his death." Many of Arafat's biographers, as well as Egyptian authorities, have maintained that Arafat's birthplace was Cairo. So far, no party to the controversy has brought the case to a court to ask for a rectification of the certificate.

Upon Arafat's death, Speaker Rawhi Fattouh succeeded Arafat as interim President of the PA. PLO Secretary-General Mahmoud Abbas was selected Chairman of the PLO, and Foreign Minister Farouk Kaddoumi became head of Fatah. Ahmed Qurei remained as Prime Minister, and took on additional security responsibilities. Abbas won the January 2005 presidential election by a comfortable margin, solidifying himself as the successor to Arafat as leader of the Palestinians.

See also

• List of Fatah members
• List of Palestinians
• Nobel Prize controversies
• Person of the Year

Further reading

• Aburish, Said K. (1998). Arafat: From Defender to Dictator. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-1-58234-049-4. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
• Bregman, Ahron (2005). Elusive Peace: How the Holy Land Defeated America. Penguin. ISBN 978-0-14-102084-6. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
• Gowers, Andrew (2005). Arafat: The Biography. Virgin Books. ISBN 978-1-85227-924-0. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
• Hart, Alan (1994). Arafat. Sidgwick & Jackson. ISBN 978-0-283-06220-9. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
• Livingstone, Neil (1990). Inside the PLO. Reader's Digest Association. ISBN 978-0-7090-4548-9. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
• Rubin, Barry M. (2003). Yasir Arafat: A Political Biography. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-516689-7. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
• Rubenstein, Danny (1995). The Mystery of Arafat. Steerforth Press. ISBN 978-1-883642-10-5. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
• Wallach, Janet (1990). Arafat: In the Eyes of the Beholder. Lyle Stuart. ISBN 978-0-8184-0533-4. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)

External links

Biographies and profiles

• A Life in Retrospect: Yasser Arafat Time magazine retrospective
• Biography of Yasser Arafat from the Nobel e-Museum
• Life and times of Yassir Arafat, Profile: Yassir Arafat from Times Online, UK
• Yasser Arafat (1929-2004) PASSIA

Speeches

• Yasser Arafat's November 13, 1974 UN General Assembly speech
• Yasser Arafat's December 13, 1988 UN General Assembly speech