Page 69 - Encyclopedia Of Terrorism

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42———Arafat, Yasir (1929– )

Fatah group. Al Fatah advocated an armed struggle for
ARAFAT, YASIR (1929– ) Palestine carried out by Palestinians themselves, not

aka Abu Ammar by other Arab countries and their armies. The group
published the magazine Our Palestine: The Call to
Life that called for the eradication of Israel. Al Fatah
During his lengthy tenure as a Palestinian leader, grew as the publication drew in new members.
Yasir Arafat has played many roles—from terrorist to As Al Fatah grew, Arafat gained the support of the
recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. Chairman of the Syrian government. With this backing, Al Fatah
Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and leader of mounted its first raid into Israel in 1965. The group
the Palestinian Authority, Arafat remains a polemic continued to infiltrate and attack Israel, crossing from
figure, as famous for his fiery speeches as he is for Lebanon and Jordan. Arafat is said to have used mul-
sporting an unshaven chin and a checkered kaffiyeh, tiple disguises when traveling, including that of an
always shaped into a point to symbolize the map of Egyptian tourist, a Pakistani businessman, and a
Palestine. shepherd.
Although Arafat, whose nom de guerre is Abu In June 1967, Israel defeated Egypt, Syria, and
Ammar, has cooperated with many biographers and Jordan in what has become known as the Six-Day
given countless interviews, many details of his life are War. Israel then occupied the Sinai peninsula, the
uncertain. No consensus exists on his date or place of Golan Heights, the Gaza Strip, and the West Bank,
birth, for instance. His birth certificate shows Arafat forcing Palestinian residents to become refugees.
to have been born Mohammed Abder Rauf Arafat Arafat and other top Fatah leaders worked quickly to
al-Kudwa al-Husseini in Cairo on August 24, 1929; recruit displaced Palestinians. Al Fatah increased the
Arafat maintains that he was born in Jerusalem on number of its raids, attacking Israel from Jordan,
August 4, 1929. Lebanon, and Syria. Arafat and about 300 Fatah fight-
Arafat, the sixth of seven children, spent his early ers set up a base in the town of Karameh, on the road
years in Cairo. His mother died when he was 4, and between the West Bank and Jordan.
Arafat and his younger brother were sent to live with Israeli forces counter attacked Fatah bases and the
an uncle in Jerusalem. He later returned to Cairo when homes of suspected terrorists. In March 1968, Israeli
his father, a Palestinian wholesale trader, remarried. forces struck Karameh, in what was said to be the
Arafat was active in politics from an early age, biggest single military action since the end of the Six-
working as an aide for a relative in the Palestinian Day War. Al Fatah, backed by Jordanian artillery, held
national movement. Before he entered his 20s, he was off the attack. Although Al Fatah had suffered many
involved in smuggling guns from Egypt to Palestine. losses, Arafat celebrated the battle as a tactical victory.
During his first years as an engineering student at the Many in the Arab world saw it as some remediation of
Cairo University, he worked to organize fellow the devastating 1967 defeat. Fatah’s ranks swelled.
Palestinian students. In 1948, he left school to fight for Arafat, already wearing his trademark kaffiyeh,
Palestine as a volunteer in the first Arab-Israeli war. became a famous symbol of Palestine and Palestinians;
After the Arab defeat, Arafat returned to Cairo. He he appeared on the cover of Time in December 1968.
later told biographers that he was so devastated that he In 1969, Al Fatah joined and gained control of the
considered abandoning his cause. He toyed with the PLO, the coordinating body for Palestinian organiza-
idea of traveling to the United States to finish his stud- tions, and Arafat was elected chairman of the organi-
ies, and even applied for a visa. Instead he returned to zation’s executive committee. The PLO’s primary
the university in Cairo and decided to stay in Egypt. bases of operation at this time were Palestinian
He continued to organize, and in 1952 was elected refugee camps in eastern Jordan. The group suffered
president of the Union of Palestinian Students. As a major setback in September 1970, after members of
president, he created a student magazine called the the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine
Voice of Palestine. hijacked four international airliners and forced them
Arafat later left Egypt for Kuwait, where he to land outside of Amman, Jordan. Once the crisis
worked as a construction and contracting engineer. In was resolved, King Hussein of Jordan launched an
1957, he and his closest colleagues formed an under- offensive against the Palestinian forces, as they were
ground movement, which became the first cell of his seen to be undermining the Jordanian government.