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| Birth Name(s) : Yasser Arafat |
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Full Yasser Arafat Biography
Mohammed Abdel Rahman Abdel Raouf Arafat al-Qudwa al-Husseini (محمد عبد الرحمن عبد الرؤوف عرفات القدوة الحسيني) (August 24, 1929 – November 11, 2004), 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.
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. However, 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.
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.
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.
In 2004, President Bush dismissed Arafat as a negotiating partner. Arafat had a mixed relationship at best with the leaders of other Arab nations. His 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 homeland or ours? We were planted here before the Prophet Abraham came, but it looks like they don't understand history or geography."
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 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.
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. Abbas won the January 2005 presidential election by a comfortable margin, solidifying himself as the successor to Arafat as leader of the Palestinians. |
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