Khorram Country at thecommentary.ca

Thursday, 11 November 2004

Yasser Arafat: The man behind the myth - KHORRAM COUNTRY

By Babak Khorram, for THECOMMENTARY.CA

Today, one of the most controversial figures in history was pronounced dead. To some, he was the enduring symbol of a peoples' struggle for freedom. To others, he was the biggest roadblock to a lasting peace in the Middle East. Whatever the view, he will remain one of the most debated individuals in history.

Yasser Arafat was the fifth of seven children born in 1929 to a Palestinian textile merchant. The obscurity surrounding his life begins with his birthplace, which remains unknown. The Palestinian Authority claims that he was born in Jerusalem but other sources claim that he was born in Cairo. Whatever the story, Arafat, spent his childhood in both Jerusalem and Cairo after the death of his mother. He would spend his late adolescence at the University of King Faud 1 (later renamed, Cairo University). It is purported that Arafat spent his university years studying Judaism and Zionism by engaging in debates with Jews and reading the works of Theodor Herzl and other Zionists. By 1946, however, Arafat had become an ardent Palestinian nationalist.

In 1948, Arafat led a group of Palestinians from his University to fight in the first Arab-Israeli war but was turned away near the war zone by the Egyptian government, which refused to let poorly trained partisans fight. He would go on to become the President of the Union of Palestinian Students from 1952 to 1956, when he would graduate from Cairo University with a degree in Civil Engineering. In 1956, Arafat was part of the Egyptian military that was defeated during the Suez Crisis after which he moved to Kuwait to work as an engineer.

It was in Kuwait in 1957 that Arafat formed Fatah. The goal of Fatah was to achieve an independent Palestinian state from Israel and Jordan proper, considered by the organisation to historically be Palestine. By the late 1960's, Fatah was a dominant force within the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) and in 1969, Arafat became its new leader. In the early 1970's, a war would break out between the PLO and Jordan. On the day the war began, Arafat became the leader of the Palestinian Liberation Army and, thus, supreme leader of the PLO. Jordan, however, would gain dominance in the brief war and the PLO would agree to a ceasefire. Throughout all of this, Arafat was linked to several acts of terrorism. The US National Security Agency (NSA) claims that Arafat ordered the killing of an American and Belgian diplomat in Sudan. Others, claimed a link between Arafat and Black September, the group that claimed responsibility for the massacre of 11 Israeli athletes at the 1972 Olympics in Munich.

After the defeat to Jordan, Arafat and the PLO would relocate to Lebanon. From Lebanon, Arafat would order Palestinian fighters to move south and attack Israeli towns. Israel would respond with much greater firepower against Lebanon. In 1974, Arafat appeared before the UN General Assembly to make one of his most memorable speeches: "I come bearing an olive branch in one hand, and the freedom fighter's gun in the other. Do not let the olive branch fall from my hand."

In 1976, the PLO was given full admission into the Arab League. The PLO would play an important role in the Lebanese Civil war. Many Lebanese Christians claim that the PLO was responsible for tens of thousands of deaths. When the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) entered Lebanon to intervene, they allowed Lebanese Christian Militias to enter two Palestinian refugee camps and massacre some several thousand Palestinians. Then Israeli Defense Minister, Ariel Sharon, was found indirectly responsible for the massacre and, thus, forced to resign. The US intervened and brokered a deal between Israel and the PLO, which allowed Arafat and the PLO to leave Lebanon for Tunisia.

In Tunisia, Yasser Arafat would orchestrate the First Intifada against Israel. In 1988, as part of a UN Security Council Resolution, Arafat would recognise the right of Israel to exist and renounce "terrorism in all its forms, including state terrorism." To many, particularly in Israel and the West, this was a futile promise that has never been kept. In 1990, Arafat married Suha Tawil, a Palestinian Christian thirty-four years his junior.

In 1993, the Oslo Accords were implemented, which called for Palestinian self-rule of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. This allowed Arafat to relocate back to the Palestinian territories and form the Palestinian Authority from remnants of the PLO. The following year, Yasser Arafat, Shimon Peres, and Yitzhak Rabin would share the Nobel Peace Prize. The same year, Suha Arafat gave birth to Arafat's daughter, Zahwa, named after his deceased mother. Throughout the 1990's, Arafat would spend most of his time in his compound in Ramallah in the West Bank. The reasons for his failure to see the establishment of an independent Palestinian State differ according to different people. Arafat laments Israel for breaking promises and making "unacceptable" offers. Israel claims that it is Arafat who has broken promises by not targeting militants within the Palestinian Authority and terrorists within the Palestinian territories. This conflict led to a Second Intifada and more innocent civilians dead on both sides. In late October of 2004, Arafat became ill and was transported to a French military hospital outside Paris. Today, he was pronounced dead, at the age of 75.

Yasser Arafat never lived to see his two, mutually exclusive dreams: To see an independent Palestinian State or be martyred in the process. Instead, he remains a shadowy figure with his checkered Kaffiyeh and perpetually unkempt stubble. Stories about him vary. Some say he is obsessed with a mission to free the oppressed Palestinian people. Others say that he is a despot who is responsible for the deaths of innocent Israelis as well as Palestinians. He is rumoured by many sources to have a vast wealth in the excess of one billion dollars-obtained through taxes from ordinary Palestinians. Without a doubt, Yasser Arafat will continue to be debated even in his death. This, however, avoids the most important question: What now for the Palestinians?

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