Yasir Arafat as a speaker at the Worlds Economic Forum.
Cairo’s King Fuad University (Cairo University), Al Qahirah, Egypt
Cairo’s King Fuad University (Cairo University), Al Qahirah, Egypt
Yasir Arafat meets with military troops.
Hosni Mubarak, Saddam Hussein, and Yasser Arafat pose for a photo during a meeting in Baghdad, 1988.
King Hassan II (left) with Yasser Arafat, March 13, 1996.
Last year of Ysair Arafat`s life.
Nelson Mandela greets Yasir Arafat
Ahmed Yassin (1937-2004) with Yasser Arafat (1969-2004).
1971. Yasser Arafat, leader of the Fatah movement and the Palestinian Liberation Army, the armed wing of the PLO.
Fidel Castro and Yasir Arafat, 2004.
Cairo’s King Fuad University (Cairo University), Al Qahirah, Egypt
Cairo’s King Fuad University (Cairo University), Al Qahirah, Egypt
With Bill Clinton.
Shimon Peres, Yitzhak Rabin and Yasser Arafat pose with their medals and diplomas, after receiving the 1994 Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo's City Hall.
1971. Yasser Arafat, leader of the Fatah movement and the Palestinian Liberation Army, the armed wing of the PLO.
Ahmed Yassin (1937-2004) with Yasser Arafat (1969-2004).
Yasir Arafat meets with military troops.
Nelson Mandela greets Yasir Arafat
Hosni Mubarak, Saddam Hussein, and Yasser Arafat pose for a photo during a meeting in Baghdad, 1988.
King Hassan II (left) with Yasser Arafat, March 13, 1996.
Fidel Castro and Yasir Arafat, 2004.
Last year of Ysair Arafat`s life.
Yasir Arafat`s wife Suha Tawil.
Yasir Arafat`s daughter Zahwa Arafat.
(Cnn: Chance for Peace [VHS]: Bill Clinton, Yasir Arafat: ...)
Cnn: Chance for Peace [VHS]: Bill Clinton, Yasir Arafat: Movies & TV
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/6302999065/?tag=2022091-20
1998
Mohammed Yasser Abdel Rahman Abdel Raouf Arafat al-Qudwa Al-Husseini, more commonly known as Yasser Arafat, was the fifth of seven children born on August 24, 1929 to a Palestinian textile merchant. According to Arafat and other sources, the place of his birth was Jerusalem; however, he was actually born in Cairo, Egypt, and that is where his birth certificate was registered.
In 1944 Arafat began his studies at Cairo’s King Fuad University (later Cairo University) and graduated with a diploma in civil engineering in 1950. While a student in Egypt, he joined the Union of Palestinian Students and served as its president (1952–56). He was also associated with the Muslim Brotherhood, and in 1954, in the crackdown that followed an assassination attempt on Egyptian leader Gamal Abdel Nasser by one of their members, Arafat was jailed for being a Brotherhood sympathizer.
In the late 1950's he lived in Kuwait and helped to establish Fatah, which began terrorist operations against Israel in the early 1960's. From about 1965, and especially after Israel's victory in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, a power struggle ensued within the Palestinian resistance movement, largely between advocates of Arab state sponsorship and those, like Arafat, supporting an independent movement.
In 1969 Arafat, as leader of the most powerful group in the PLO, was elected chairman. Under Arafat's stewardship, the PLO developed a variety of political, socioeconomic, and educational institutions in Lebanon and elsewhere in the Palestinian diaspora. Arafat's greatest efforts, however, were expended in the diplomatic arena, where he doggedly pursued the goal of international recognition of the rights of Palestinians to self-determination and of the PLO as their legitimate political representative. Because of his desire to press for a diplomatic solution he undertook initiatives that at times were unacceptable to the Palestine National Council (PNC), the Palestinian people's "parliament in exile".
In the late 1960's, Arafat supported the PNC's call for a secular democratic state in all of Palestine, to be achieved by guerrilla attacks against Israeli targets. This strategy lost credibility in the aftermath of the 1973 Arab-Israeli war, and in 1974 the PNC agreed to a Palestinian state in any part of Palestine. From then on, Arafat remained a backer of what was understood to represent a "two-state" solution.
The Palestinian "uprising" (intifada) that began at the end of 1987 in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip enabled Arafat to resume the diplomatic momentum. The resiliency and self-reliance of the uprising and its stated goal of a Palestinian state enabled Arafat to secure sufficient backing within the PNC to bring his case for a two-state resolution, including the PLO's recognition of Israel, before the international community in November 1988. When the United States government insisted that the PLO could receive no form of United States recognition unless it officially recognized the legitimacy of Israel's existence and disavowed terrorism, Arafat met this condition.
Low-level contacts between United States and PLO representatives ensued, but were soon broken off by the United States side. Meanwhile, the evolution of a Palestinian leadership within the occupied territories, loyal to but separate from the PLO, created new challenges for Arafat. The assassination of his two top deputies, Abu Jihad by Israeli commandos in April 1988 and Abu Iyad by unknown killers in January 1991, left a leadership gap that forced Arafat to take more and more personal control of the PLO.
Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1990, and the ensuing Persian Gulf War in early 1991, left Arafat internationally isolated. His long-standing political and financial backers in the Gulf emirates and Saudi Arabia condemned him for the PLO's failure to denounce the invasion and its subsequent support of the Iraqis during the hostilities. The Persian Gulf War, combined with the disappearance of the counterweight to United States influence formerly provided by the Soviet Union, deprived the Palestine question of its place as a central unifying factor among Middle Eastern Arab states.
Both Arab and United States pressures forced Arafat to accept a set of stringent conditions for Palestinian participation in the new peace process initiated by United States secretary of state James Baker. A set of simultaneous bilateral Israeli-Arab negotiations began in Madrid, Spain, in October 1991, but the Palestinian delegates had to form a formal joint delegation with the Jordanians; they had to be accepted by the Israeli government; they could not be residents of East Jerusalem; and they could not officially adhere to or represent the PLO (although in fact they obviously did so). The peace process in Madrid, and later Washington, D. C. , made no progress at all even after a pro-peace Labor government took over in Israel from the Likud.
In the spring of 1993 both Israelis and Palestinians began to hint at a "Jericho and Gaza first" approach. This was accompanied by secret PLO-Israel negotiations in Oslo, Norway, that culminated in a coup de theatre: a peace agreement between Israel and the PLO on September 10, 1993, followed by a formal handshake on the White House lawn between Arafat and Israeli premier Yitzhak Rabin, on September 13, 1993.
The first stage of the accord went into effect in May 1994 with the withdrawal of Israeli troops from most parts of Gaza and Jericho. Arafat then returned to Gaza to set up a provisional government--a task that was complicated by Arafat's autocratic nature, and by the actions of Arab militants who had pledged to derail the peace process.
Nonetheless, in 1994 Arafat, Rabin, and Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for their roles in securing the Arab-Israeli agreement. Many members of the international community objected to the presentation of a peace award to Arafat, in light of his history as a terrorist.
Arafat lost much of his diplomatic credibility with the West after the election of United States President George W. Bush in November 2000 and the launch of the “war on terror” in 2001, which followed the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City and the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. In 2001, following suicide attacks in Israel that Sharon blamed Arafat for instigating, Arafat was confined by Israel to his headquarters in Ramallah.
In October 2004, Arafat fell ill with flulike symptoms and, his situation worsening, was transported to Paris, France, for medical treatment. He died there the following month, on November 11.
He was Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) from 1969 to 2004 and President of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) from 1994 to 2004. Ideologically an Arab nationalist, he was a founding member of the Fatah political party, which he led from 1959 until 2004.
Arafat was awarded the 1994 Nobel Prize in World Peace for his efforts in signing the 1993 Oslo Peace Accords.
(Cnn: Chance for Peace [VHS]: Bill Clinton, Yasir Arafat: ...)
1998Arafat was one of the most prominent founders of the Fatah's political party, which he led from 1959 until 2004, and sat on the movement's central committee.
While a student, he embraced Arab nationalist and anti-Zionist ideas. Later in life, in 1988, he acknowledged Israel's right to exist and sought a two-state solution to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. In 1994 he returned to Palestine, settling in Gaza City and promoting self-governance for the Palestinian territories. He engaged in a series of negotiations with the Israeli government to end the conflict between it and the PLO. These included the Madrid Conference of 1991, the 1993 Oslo Accords and the 2000 Camp David Summit.
At the end of his life he had reached a state of complete diplomatic isolation—and yet, as Ḥamās and Fatah continued to vie for influence in the occupied territories in the years after his death, it looked as though history might find that he was the last Palestinian leader able to sign a peace agreement and impose it on the Palestinian community as a whole.
He lived in modest fashion—even as he provided supporters with money and costly favours, purchased influence, and accepted the corruption of many of those around him—and, in spite of criticism of his authoritarian style of governing, he managed to gain a wide popularity among his people.
Arafat was a man of action who required constant stimulation and found it difficult to enjoy periods of quiet and relaxation. Owing to his emotional limitations, he was not ready to accept the authority of others and didn`t tolerate any dispute regarding his status. Arafat was suspicious toward enemies and allies alike. He didn`t trust anyone, and his suspicions are accompanied by extreme sensitivity to any criticism on the part of his people. He was personally hurt when people in his camp express criticism—even constructive criticism—regarding his political courses of action. Similarly, Arafat had a strong emotional need to demonstrate superiority over his partners as well as his rivals. He perceived himself as a leader of extraordinary historic stature. Arafat’s interpersonal skills were characterized by problems with relationships, stemming from his need to manipulate people, bringing them closer or distancing them as needed. He had neither intimate relationships nor any close friends, and apparently felt no need for them.
In 1990, Arafat married Suha Tawil, a Palestinian Christian when he was 61 and Suha, 27. On 24 July 1995, Arafat's wife Suha gave birth to a daughter in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France.
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: Salah Khalaf ("Abu Iyad") and Khalil al-Wazir ("Abu Jihad"), both official members of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood.
