Yasser Arafat, 1929-2004

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Yasser Arafat, 1929-2004

President Yasser Arafat - Curriculum Vita

Yasser Arafat, Chairman of al-Fatah and the Palestine Liberation Organisation and elected President of the Palestinian Authority, died in Paris early on Thursday, November 11, 2004, from complications stemming from a blood disorder. He was 75.

            The legendary figure was the symbol of the Palestinian national struggle. He devoted his whole life to the cause of Palestinian national independence and freedom and to establishing a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital.

            The death was announced by Palestinian presidential secretary Tayeb Abdel Rahim at the al-Muqata'a (District Headquarters) in the West Bank city of Ramallah. "Yasser Arafat, the leader of our revolution, planted the seeds of love among his people. This great love is giving us the strength to say to him farewell as he is leaving," Abdel Rahim said. "You and your great history will be the light that would lighten the road for your people to continue your road that you had chosen."

            According to the French military hospital Percy where Arafat had been under medical treatment, the Palestinian leader died in intensive care at 3:30 am (0230 GMT).

            The body of Arafat will be flown to Cairo, capital of Egypt, for a funeral to be held there on Friday. After the memorial service, Arafat's body will be flown to his headquarters in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

            A 40-day general mourning was declared on Thursday in the Palestinian territories. Flags will be flown at half mask at Palestinian institutions in the West Bank and Gaza.

            Born Muhammad Abd al-Ra'uf al-Qudwa Al-Husseini, he was named Yasser, it is believed, to honour an Arab victim during the British mandate in Palestine.

            Yasser Arafat first became committed to resisting the Israeli occupation following the Nakba or “Catastrophe” of 1948. He became an engineering student in Cairo in the 1951, where he headed the Union of Palestinian Students at King Fuad I University (now Cairo University) from 1952-1957, where he received a Bachelor Degree in Architecture Engineering. There, he formed the Palestinian Graduate Association, a group which supported volunteers who stood against the British, French and Israeli forces which invaded Egypt in 1956. Upon completion of his studies, Arafat launched his own contracting firm in Kuwait.

            Yasser Arafat was founder in 1959 of al-Fatah, the Palestinian National Liberation Movement, committed to advancing armed struggle as a means of liberating Palestine. In 1964, the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) was created. By 1967, Israel had occupied the West Bank and Gaza Strip, after launching a pre-emptive war against Egypt, Syria and Jordan. Arafat was elected as Chairman for the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organisation in 1969, becoming the third chairman after Ahmad Shuqeiri and Yahya Hammouda.

            In 1970, the Palestinian fighters led by Arafat were forced out of Jordan and redeployed in Lebanon.

            In November 1974, with the support of the Arab states, Yasser Arafat participated in a debate on the Middle East at the UN General Assembly. His famous words to the delegates there were: "I have come bearing an olive branch and a freedom fighter's gun. Do not let the olive branch fall from my hand."

            In June 1982, Israel invaded Lebanon with the declared aim of ousting the PLO. The Israeli army besieged the Lebanese capital, Beirut, for three months where Arafat was holed up in a bunker. The Israelis halted their bombardment in August in a deal under which Arafat and some 10,000 PLO fighters left Lebanon for Tunisia, which was the formal PLO headquarters for the next 12 years. Shortly after the PLO's departure, the Israeli occupation troops presided over the brutal slaughter of thousands of women, children, men and the elderly in the Palestinian refugee camps of Sabra and Shatila.

            In 1987, the first Palestinian Intifada erupted in the occupied territories. On November 15, 1988, the PLO’s Palestinian National Council (the Parliament in exile) declared in Algeria the independent state of Palestine, with Jerusalem as its capital. Arafat read the declaration of independence. In 1989, the Palestinian Central Council declared Arafat president of the Palestinian state.

            On September 13, 1993, Yasser Arafat signed the Declaration of Principles at the White House (the Oslo Accords). According to the Oslo accords, Israel would grant the Palestinians limited territorial sovereignty and partial control over civil affairs in the West Bank and Gaza. On May 12, 1994, the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) was established. In July, Arafat returned to Gaza after a 24-year-long exile, and he was elected as President of the PNA in 1996. On December 10, 1994, Arafat won the Nobel Peace Prize together with Israel’s then Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Foreign Minister Shimon Peres.

            The Oslo accords were followed by other peace agreements, starting with the Cairo accords of 1994, which Arafat signed with Rabin and initiated Israel’s limited withdrawal from occupied territory, beginning with “Gaza-Jericho first”. This was followed with Arafat’s signing of the Wye River Accord in 1998. The process came to a halt when it came to final status issues; issues of fundamental ramifications such as Jerusalem, the Palestinian refugees’ right of return, Israeli colonies dotting the occupied territory, water and borders.

            In 2000, a fresh round of talks were held at Camp David between Arafat and then Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, under the auspices of then US President Bill Clinton. But talks collapsed after the Palestinians were offered no more than isolated Bantustans that would remain under Israel’s grip. Both Israel and the US, however, blamed Arafat for what they claimed was a historical opportunity to end the conflict.

            The Palestinian people’s anger with the stalemate in the peace process boiled over in September 2000 in the form of the second Intifada, sparked by a deliberately provocative visit by current Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to Al-Aqsa Mosque, Islam’s third holiest site.

            Since then, US and its instrument Israel made every effort to sideline President Arafat and confined him to his headquarters in the West Bank city of Ramallah in December 2001. Arafat’s compound was frequently bombed and his office was targeted by Israeli tanks, missiles and shells on numerous occasions and Arafat survived a number of assassination attempts by the Israeli intelligence agencies.

            Israel has never been reticent about its plans to either kill or deport Arafat, and his resilience to Israeli threats merited his role as leader of the Palestinian people in the struggle for their independence, sovereignty and very existence as a people.

            On March 29, 2002, the Israeli cabinet declared Arafat an enemy. In response to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's offer of permanent exile, Arafat said on April 2, 2002, that he would rather die than leave the Palestinian territories.

            Besieged by Ariel Sharon in the rubble of his headquarters, Yasser Arafat defied Israeli aggression, especially since the murderous Israeli attack on Palestinian cities in March-April 2002 that killed over 500 people and destroyed most of the infrastructure of the Palestinian Authority. He steadfastly maintained the dignity and decorum of the elected Palestinian president, in which post he served until his very death.

            Yasser Arafat is survived by his wife, Suha Tawil, and their daughter, Zahwa, who was named after Arafat’s mother.

            WDIE sends its profound condolences to the family, colleagues and fellow fighters of Yasser Arafat. We mourn his passing together with the Palestinian people throughout the world who still maintain their national identity, and with all whose hearts beat as one with the Palestinians and their sacred cause to which Yasser Arafat dedicated his life. We are so sad that Yasser Arafat did not live to see the victory of this cause, but we are fully confident that, inspired by his example and fighting spirit, his spirit of defiance and optimism against all aggression and oppression, the Palestinian people will win victory, with the support of the countless millions throughout the world who are also struggling for their empowerment and a new society. Yasser Arafat, we salute you!