Page 71 - Encyclopedia Of Terrorism

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44———Arafat, Yasir (1929– )

In the late 1980s, Arafat began strong and effective Arab countries stopped supporting the PLO financially
negotiations for peace. What motivated Arafat’s shift to and began supporting the more extreme group (and
a political strategy—and, indeed, whether it was a sin- Fatah rival) Hamas, instead.
cere shift on Arafat’s part or merely a smokescreen In 1993, Arafat took part in secret meetings with
to hide terrorist activities—is a matter of heated debate. Israeli diplomats in Oslo, Norway; these meetings
Many experts point to Arafat’s plane crash in the culminated in the signing of the 1993 PLO-Israel
Libyan desert in October 1992 as an essential turning Declaration of Principles. After signing the declara-
point. Arafat may also have become more aware of his tion in Washington on September 13, Arafat and
own vulnerability due to a series of assassinations of his Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin shook hands on
comrades: Khalil al-Wazir, the head of the PLO terror- the White House lawn—an unprecedented and historic
ist operations against Israel, was killed by Mossad, moment. In 1994, Arafat was awarded the Nobel
Israel’s intelligence service, in Tunis in 1988; Salah Peace Prize, along with Rabin and Israeli foreign min-
Khalef, PLO intelligence officer and key figure in ister Shimon Peres. During the same year, Arafat
Al Fatah, and Hayil Abd al-Hamid, security chief of signed the Gaza-Jericho accord and returned to the
Al Fatah, were both killed in 1991 by the rival Abu Gaza Strip after 27 years in exile.
Nidal Organization in a campaign of inter-Palestinian In January 1996 Arafat was elected president of the
fratricide stemming from Saddam Hussein’s invasion Palestinian Authority, which governed the West Bank
of Kuwait. Arafat’s own encroaching age may also have and Gaza Strip. Two years later, during negotiations at
been a factor in his shift toward a political solution. the Wye River plantation in Maryland, he and Israeli
Speaking in Stockholm in 1988, Arafat declared prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu signed an agree-
that the PLO accepted the existence of Israel. Under ment that guaranteed the return of an additional 13 per-
his leadership, the PLO accepted U.N. Security cent of West Bank land to Palestinian control.
Council Resolution 242, which had laid out the basis In 2000, Arafat walked away from negotiations with
for Middle East peace negotiations two decades Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak at Camp David in the
before, and agreed that Israel had a right to coexist United States. Peace negotiations reached a stalemate in
with Palestine. Later that year, Arafat spoke before a the years that followed. Responding to a series of
special session of the U.N. General Assembly in suicide bombings committed by the Al Aqsa Martyrs
Geneva, and called on Israel to join peace talks. The Brigades, which many experts believe to be under
following day, President Ronald Reagan of the United Arafat’s control, in December 2001 the Israeli military
States authorized the start of what he called a “sub- began a siege of Ramallah on the West Bank. Arafat was
stantive dialogue” with the PLO, saying that it had trapped in the city and then confined to his headquarters.
met the U.S. conditions. Arafat remained in his compound until May 2, 2002,
As Arafat became an ever more public figure, he when he and his staff were released as part of an inter-
increasingly kept his private life hidden. Arafat was national agreement that required the convicted murder-
seen by the press as a notorious bachelor, famous for ers of an Israeli minister serve time in a Palestinian jail,
saying, “I am married to all the women of Palestine.” supervised by the United States and Britain.
In fact Arafat was secretly married by 1989, to Suha The U.S. government has been disappointed with
al-Taweel, a Paris-educated Christian. She converted Arafat’s leadership, and in July 2002 President
to Islam but is still not entirely accepted by some George W. Bush called for his ouster. International
extremists inside the Arafat camp. Arafat didn’t pub- opinion is more divided, with supporters pointing out
licly admit to the marriage until four years had passed. that he is, after all, the elected president of the
As the PLO advocated a more moderate stance and Palestinian Authority. Critics have accused Arafat of
worked to join in diplomatic negotiations, Arafat’s hypocrisy—claiming to be in favor of peace but con-
leadership came under fire from militant Palestinian sistently failing to discipline those who perpetrate acts
groups, including Hamas and Abu Nidal’s breakaway of terror. Some experts doubt Arafat’s ability to gov-
Fatah Revolutionary Council—both supported a ern the violent elements of his community; others
buildup of Palestinian military strength. question his desire to do so.
Arafat would again become persona non grata in See also AL AQSA MARTYRS BRIGADES; AL ’ASIFA; AL
the United States when he stridently supported Iraq FATAH; FORCE 17; MUNICH OLYMPICS MASSACRE;
during the Persian Gulf War. During the war, many PALESTINE LIBERATION ORGANIZATION