Difference between revisions of "Yasir Arafat"

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Yasser Arafat, (Arabic: ياسر عرفات yāsir ^arafāt) (Cairo, Egypt 1929 - Paris, France 2004), born Mohammed Al-Husseini al-Qudwa Abdel-Rahman Abdel-Raouf Arafat, was Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization, President of the Palestinian National Authority and head of the Fatah movement. Throughout his life Arafat was dedicated to the destruction of Israel and its replacement with an Arab "Palestinian" state.

Early life

As part of an effort to present himself to the world as the epitome of "Palestine", Arafat would often claim to have been born in Jerusalem (sometime he would identify Gaza as his place of birth). The truth of the matter is that he was born in Cairo, Egypt. Even in his later years his accent and dialect was typical of Egyptians rather than "Palestinians".^[1]

In 1933 Arafat's mother died and he was sent to Jerusalem where he lived with his relatives until being called back into Cairo by his father in 1937. With the exception of the 1948 Israel's independence war (where he fought against the Jews alongside the Muslim Brotherhood, which he later joined in 1952^[2]), Arafat continued to live in Egypt^[3] until 1956 when he moved to Kuwait.^[2]

Arafat's father, active in the Egyptian-based Muslim Brotherhood and an ardent Grand Mufti of Jerusalem supporter, has recruited him with his brother as child-soldiers to fight for the Mufti^[4].

Terrorist career

In the late 1950s Arafat and other Arabs claiming to be "Palestinians" founded the Fatah movement, dedicated to bringing the destruction of Israel through armed struggle.^[2] Fatah started its terroristic campaign against Israel in 1965,^[5] two years before the so-called Israeli "occupation" of the West Bank and Gaza Strip started. In 1969, Arafat took over the PLO (which was formed five years earlier) and turned it into an umbrella organization which included the Fatah and other "Palestinian" terrorist groups.^[5] As a strategy of use of children in terror, already early on, he and G. Habash led Lion Cubs - Palestinisn Arabs.

Yasir Arafat’s Timeline of Terror^[6]:

•  Feb. 21, 1970: SwissAir flight 330, bound for Tel Aviv, is bombed in mid-flight by PFLP, a PLO member group. 47 people are killed.

•  May 8, 1970: PLO terrorists attack an Israeli schoolbus with bazooka fire, killing nine pupils and three teachers from Moshav Avivim

•  Sept. 6, 1970: TWA, Pan-Am, and BOAC airplanes are hijacked by PLO terrorists.

•  September 1970: Jordanian forces battle the PLO terrorist organization, driving its members out of Jordan after the group’s violent activity threatens to destabilize the kingdom. The terrorists flee to Lebanon. This period in PLO history is called “Black September.”

•  May 1972: PFLP, part of the PLO, dispatches members of the Japanese Red Army to attack Lod Airport in Tel Aviv, killing 27 people.

•  Sept. 5, 1972: Munich Massacre —11 Israeli athletes are murdered at the Munich Olympics by a group calling themselves “Black September,”said to be an arm of Fatah, operating under Arafat’s direct command.

•  March 1, 1973: Palestinian terrorists take over Saudi embassy in Khartoum. The next day, two Americans, including United States ambassador to Sudan Cleo Noel, and a Belgian were shot and killed. James J. Welsh, an analyst for the National Security Agency from 1969 through 1974, charged Arafat with direct complicity in these murders.

•  April 11, 1974: 11 people are killed by Palestinian terrorists who attack apartment building in Kiryat Shmona.

•  May 15, 1974: PLO terrorists infiltrating from Lebanon hold children hostage in Ma’alot school. 26 people, 21 of them children, are killed.

•  June 9, 1974: Palestinian National Council adopts “Phased Plan,” which calls for the establishment of a Palestinian state on any territory evacuated by Israel, to be used as a base of operations for destroying the whole of Israel. The PLO reaffirms its rejection of United Nations Security Council Resolution 242, which calls for a “just and lasting peace” and the “right to live in peace within secure and recognized boundaries free from threats or acts of force.”

•  November 1974: PLO takes responsibility for the PDFLP’s Beit She’an murders in which 4 Israelis are killed.

•  Nov. 13, 1974: Arafat, wearing a holster (he had to leave his gun at the entrance), addresses the U.N. General Assembly.

•  March 1975: Members of Fatah attack the Tel Aviv seafront and take hostages in the Savoy hotel. Three soldiers, three civilians and seven terrorists are killed.

•  March 1978: Coastal Road Massacre —Fatah terrorists take over a bus on the Haifa-Tel Aviv highway and kill 21 Israelis.

•  1982: Having created a terrorist mini-state in Lebanon destabilizing that nation, PLO is expelled as a result of Israel’s response to incessant PLO missile attacks against northern Israeli communiti es. Arafat relocates to Tunis.

•  Oct. 7, 1985: Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro is hijacked by Palestinian terrorists. Wheelchair-bound elderly man, Leon Klinghoffer, was shot and thrown overboard. Intelligence reports note that instructions originated from Arafat’s headquarters in Tunis.

•  Dec. 12, 1988: Arafat claims to accept Israel’s right to exist.

•  September 1993: Arafat shakes hands with Israeli Prime Minister Rabin, inaugurating the Oslo Accords. Arafat pledges to stop incitement and terror, and to foster co-existence with Israel, but fails to comply. Throughout the years of negotiations, aside from passing, token efforts, Arafat does nothing to stop Hamas, PFLP, and Islamic Jihad from carrying out thousands of terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians. With Arafat’s encouragement and financial support, groups directly under Arafat’s command, such as the Tanzim and Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, also carry out terror attacks.

•  Oct. 21, 1996: Speaking at a rally near Bethlehem, Arafat said “We know only one word – jihad. jihad, jihad, jihad. Whoever does not like it can drink from the Dead Sea or from the Sea of Gaza.” (Yediot Ahronot, October 23, 1996)

•  April 16, 1998: In a statement published in the official Palestinian Authority newspaper Al-Hayat Al-Jadeeda, Arafat is quoted: “O my dear ones on the occupied lands, relatives and friends throughout Palestine and the diaspora, my colleagues in struggle and in arms, my colleagues in struggle and in jihad…Intensify the revolution and the blessed intifada…We must burn the ground under the feet of the invaders.”

•  July 2000: Arafat rejects peace settlement offered by Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, which would have led to a Palestinian state.

– September 2000: New “intifada” is launched. Arafat continues to incite, support and fund terrorism.

•  Jan. 3, 2002: Israelis intercept the Karine-A, a ship loaded with 50 tons of mortars, rocket launchers, anti-tank mines and other weapons intended for the Palestinian war against the Israelis. The captain admits he was under the command of the Palestinian Authority.

•  September 2003:  IMF report titled “Economic Performance and Reforms under Conflict Conditions,” states that Arafat has diverted $900 million of public PA funds into his own accounts from 1995 – 2000.

Below are some of the attacks since Sept 2000 perpetrated by groups under Arafat’s command:

•   May 29, 2001:  Gilad Zar, an Itamar resident, was shot dead in a terrorist ambush by Fatah Tanzim.

•  May 29, 2001: Sara Blaustein, 53, and Esther Alvan, 20, of Efrat, were killed in a drive-by shooting south of Jerusalem. The Fatah Tanzim claimed responsibility for the attack.

•  June 18, 2001: Doron Zisserman, 38, shot and killed in his car by Fatah sniper fire.

•   Aug 26, 2001: Dov Rosman, 58, killed in a shooting attack by Fatah terrorist.

•  Sept 6, 2001:  Erez Merhavi, 23, killed in a Fatah Tanzim ambush shooting near Hadera while driving to a wedding. 

•  Sept 20, 2001: Sarit Amrani, 26, killed by Fatah terrorist snipers as she was traveling in a car with her husband and 3 children.

•  Oct 4, 2001: 3 killed, 13 wounded, when a Fatah terrorist, dressed as an Israeli paratrooper, opened fire on Israeli civilians waiting at the central bus station in Afula. 

•  Nov 27, 2001 – 2 killed 50 injured when two Palestinian terrorists opened fire with Kalashnikov assault rifles on a crowd of people near the central bus station in Afula. Fatah and the Islamic Jihad claimed joint responsibility.

•  Nov 29, 2001: 3 killed and 9 wounded in a suicide bombing on an Egged 823 bus en route from Nazereth to Tel Aviv near the city of Hadera. The Islamic Jihad and Fatah claimed responsibility for the attack.

•  Dec 12, 2001 – 11 killed and 30 wounded when three terrorists attacked a bus and several passenger cars with a roadside bomb, anti-tank grenades, and light arms fire near the entrance to Emmanuel in Samaria . Both Fatah and Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack.

•  Jan 15, 2002:  Avi Boaz, 71, an American citizen, was kidnapped at a PA security checkpoint in Beit Jala. His bullet-riddled body was found in a car near Bethlehem. The Fatah’s Al-Aksa Brigade claimed responsibility for the murder.

•  Jan 15, 2002: Yoela Chen, 45, was shot dead by an Al Aqsa Brigade terrorist

•  Jan 17, 2002: 6 killed, 35 wounded when a Fatah terrorist burst into a bat mitzva reception in a banquet hall in Hadera opening fire with an M-16 assault rifle.

•  Jan 22, 2002: 2 killed, 40 injured when a Fatah terrorist opened fire with an M-16 assault rifle near a bus stop in downtown Jerusalem.

•  Jan. 27, 2002: One person was killed and more than 150 were wounded by a female Fatah suicide bomber in the center of Jerusalem. 

•  Feb 6, 2002 – A mother and her 11 year old daughter were murdered in their home by a Palestinian terrorist disguised in an IDF uniform. Both Fatah and Hamas claimed responsibility.

•  Feb 18, 2002: Ahuva Amergi, 30, was killed and a 60-year old man was injured when a Palestinian terrorist opened fire on her car. Maj. Mor Elraz, 25,  and St.-Sgt. Amir Mansouri, 21,  who came to their assistance, were killed while trying to intercept the terrorist. The terrorist was killed when the explosives he was carrying were detonated. The Fatah al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades claimed responsibility for the attack.

•  Feb 22, 2002: Valery Ahmir, 59, was killed by terrorists in a Fatah drive-by shooting north of Jerusalem as he returned home from work.

•  Feb 25, 2002: Avraham Fish, 65, and Aharon Gorov, 46, were killed in a Fatah terrorist shooting attack south of Bethlehem. Fish’s daughter, 9 months pregnant, was seriously injured but delivered a baby girl.

•  Feb 25, 2002: Police officer 1st Sgt. Galit Arbiv, 21, died after being fatally shot, when a Fatah terrorist opened fire at a bus stop in the Neve Ya’akov residential neighbhorhood in northern Jerusalem. Eight others were injured.

•  Feb 27, 2002: Gad Rejwan, 34, of Jerusalem, was shot and killed by one of his Palestinian emplo yees in a factory north of Jerusalem. Two Fatah groups issued a joint statement taking responsibility for the murder.

•  March 2, 2002: A suicide bombing by Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade in an ultra-Orthodox Jewish neighborhood of Jerusalem killed 11 people and injured more than 50. 

•  Mar 5, 2002: 3 were killed and over 30 people were wounded in Tel-Aviv when a Fatah terrorist opened fire on two adjacent restaurants shortly after 2:00 AM. 

•  Mar 5, 2002: Devorah Friedman, 45, of Efrat, was killed and her husband injured in a Fatah shooting attack on the Bethlehem bypass “tunnel road”, south of Jerusalem.

•  Mar 9, 2002: Avia Malka, 9 months, and Israel Yihye, 27, were killed and about 50 people were injured when two Fatah terrorists opened fire and threw grenades at cars and pedestrians in the coastal city of Netanya on Saturday evening, close to the city’s boardwalk and hotels.

•  March 21, 2002: An Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade suicide bomber exploded himself in a crowd of shoppers in Jerusalem, killing 3 and injuring 86.

•  March 29, 2002: Two killed and 28 injured when a female Fatah suicide bomber blew herself up in a Jerusalem supermarket. 

•  March 30, 2002: One killed and 30 injured in an Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade suicide bombing in Tel Aviv. 

•  April 12, 2002: Six  killed and 104 wounded when a female Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade suicide bomber blew herself up at a bus stop on Jaffa road at the entrance to Jerusalem’s Mahane Yehuda open-air market. 

•  May 27, 2002: Ruth Peled, 56, of Herzliya and her infant granddaughter, aged 14 months, were killed and 37 people were injured when a Fatah suicide bomber detonated himself near an ice cream parlor outside a shopping mall in Petah Tikva.

•  May 28, 2002 – Albert Maloul, 50, of Jerusalem, was killed when shots were fired by Fatah terrorists at the car in which he was traveling south on the Ramallah bypass road.

•  May 28, 2002 – Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade terrorists killed Netanel Riachi, 17,  Gilad Stiglitz, 14, and Avraham Siton, 17,  three yeshiva high school students playing basketball.

•  June 19, 2002: Seven people were killed and 37 injured when a Fatah suicide bomber blew himself up at a crowded bus stop and hitchhiking post in the French Hill neighborhood of Jerusalem.

•  June 20, 2002: Rachel Shabo, 40, and three of her sons – Neria, 16, Zvika, 12, and Avishai, 5 – as well as a neighbor, Yosef Twito, 31, who came to their aid, were murdered when a terrorist entered their home in Itamar, south of Nablus, and opened fire. Two other children were injured, as well as two soldiers.  The PFLP and the Fatah Al Aqsa Brigades claimed responsibility for the attack.

•  July 25, 2002: Rabbi Elimelech Shapira, 43, was killed in a Fatah shooting attack near the West Bank community of Alei Zahav. 

•  July 26, 2002: St.-Sgt. Elazar Lebovitch, 21, of Hebron; Rabbi Yosef Dikstein, 45, of Psagot, his wife Hannah, 42, and their 9-year-old son Shuv’el Zion were killed in a Fatah Al Aqsa Brigade shooting attack south of Hebron. Two other of their children were injured.

•  July 30, 2002: Shlomo Odesser, 60, and his brother Mordechai, 52, both of Tapuach in Samaria, were shot and killed when their truck came under Fatah fire in the West Bank village of Jama’in. 

•  Aug 4, 2002: 2 killed and 17 wounded when a Fatah terrorist opened fire with a pistol near the Damascus Gate of Jerusalem’s Old City. 

•  Aug 5, 2002: Avi Wolanski (29) and his wife Avital (27), of Eli, were killed and one of their children, aged 3, was injured when terrorists opened fire on their car as they were traveling on the Ramallah-Nablus road in Samaria. The Martyrs of the Palestinian Popular Army, a splinter group associated with Arafat’s Fatah movement, claimed responsibility for the attack.

•  Aug 10, 2002: Yafit Herenstein, 31, of Moshav Mechora in the Jordan Valley, was killed and her husband, Arno, seriously wounded when a Fatah terrorist infiltrated the moshav and opened fire outside their home. 

•  Sept 18, 2002: Yosef Ajami, 36, was killed when Fatah  terrorists opened fire on his car near Mevo Dotan, north of Jenin in the West Bank.

•  Oct 29, 2002: Three people, including 2 fourteen year olds, were shot to death by a Fatah terrorist.

•  Nov 10, 2002: Revital Ohayon, 34, and her two sons, Matan, 5, and Noam, 4, as well as Yitzhak Dori, 44 – all of Kibbutz Metzer – and Tirza Damari, 42,  were killed when a Fatah terrorist infiltrated the kibbutz, located east of Hadera near the Green Line, and opened fire.

•  Nov 28, 2002: 5 killed and 40 wounded when two Fatah terrorists opened fire and threw grenades at the Likud polling station in Beit She’an, near the central bus station, where party members were casting their votes in the Likud primary.

•  Apr 24, 2003 – 1 was killed and 13 were wounded in a suicide bombing outside the train station in Kfar Sava. Groups related to the Fatah al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades and the PFLP clamied joint responsibility for the attack.

•  May 5, 2003 – Gideon Lichterman, 27, was killed and two other passengers, his six-year-old daughter Moriah and a reserve soldier, were seriously wounded when Fatah terrorists fired shots at their vehicle in Samaria. 

•  May 19, 2003: 3 were killed and 70 were wounded in a suicide bombing at the entrance to the Amakim Mall in Afula. The Islamic Jihad and the Fatah al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades both claimed responsibility for the attack.

•  Aug 29, 2003:  Shalom Har-Melekh, 25, was killed in a Fatah shooting attack while driving northeast of Ramallah. His wife, Limor, who was seven months pregnant, sustained moderate injuries, and gave birth to a baby girl by Caesarean section.

•  Jan 29, 2004: 11 people were killed and over 50 wounded in a suicide bombing of an Egged bus no. 19 at the corner of Gaza and Arlozorov streets in Jerusalem. Both the Fatah-related Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades and Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack.

•  Mar 14, 2004: 10 were killed and 16 wounded in a double suicide bombing at Ashdod Port. Hamas and Fatah claimed responsibility for the attack.

•  May 2, 2004: Tali Hatuel, 34, and her daughters – Hila, 11, Hadar, 9, Roni, 7, and Merav, 2 – of Katif in the Gaza Strip were killed when two Palestinian terrorists fired on an Israeli car at the entrance to the Gaza Strip settlement bloc of Gush Katif. Fatah and Islamic Jihad claimed joint responsibility for the attack.

Yassir Arafat and George Habash had also links to Latin American groups. Ismael Jacinto Haiek, leader of guerilla Montoneros commando cell in La Plata Argentina in the 1970s, was known to have been in contact with Yassir Arafat of the Palestine Liberation Organization and George Habash, head of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and was arrested at the time^{[7] [8]} He was correspondent for the Cuestiones Arabes ("Arab Problems"), as well as for La Voz de Palestina ("The Voice of Palestine"), two antisemitic magazines, and produced Patria Ba'rbara ("What a Fatherlandl"), a clandestine publication of the Montoneros guerrillas^[9] Reportedly, since 2013 Ismael Jacinto Hayek is active in a 2013 formed Shiite Islamic group of Iran in (La Rioja) Argentina.^[10].

The phased strategy, pretend moderation and doublespeak

After 1973 Yom Kippur War the Arabs concluded that destruction of Israel cannot be achieved in one strike. As a result, the PLO under Arafat adopted in 1974 a political program called the phased strategy. The phased strategy called on the "Palestinians" to establish control over any part of "Palestine" (i.e. Israel, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip) even if other parts of it remained under Israeli control, with the ultimate intention of taking over the entirety of "Palestine" (i.e. destroying the state of Israel)^[11]

Approximately at the same time, Romania's Communist president Nicolae Ceausescu taught Arafat how to pretend to be a moderate and against terrorism while simultaneously commissioning terrorist operations (to be committed by groups not publicly affiliated with Arafat) and working towards Israel's destruction.^[12] Similar advice was also being given by the Vietnamese.^[13]

In a 1988 press conference in Geneva Arafat made statements renouncing terrorism and embracing Israel's right to exist.^[14] However, the statements he and other members of the "Palestinian" leadership made when speaking toward Arab and Muslim audiences were very different. In the very same year when Arafat supposedly accepted Israel's right to exist, his deputy Salah Khalaf expressed his commitment to the phased strategy: "This is a state for the coming generations. At first, [the Palestinian state] would be small ... [But] God willing, it would expand eastward, westward, northward, and southward ... [True,] I [once] wanted all of Palestine all at once. But I was a fool. Yes, I am interested in the liberation of Palestine, but the question is how. And the answer is Step by step."^[15] Until the end of his life, Arafat and his entourage played a game of doublespeak, expressing support for peace and coexistence when speaking to Israeli and western audiences while calling for terrorism and Israel's destruction when speaking to Arabs and Muslims.^[11] While Arafat tried to present himself as a moderate, the actions of the PLO under his command said otherwise. In 1990 the Palestinian Liberation Front, a faction of the PLO, tried to launch a terrorist attack on Israel's beaches.^[16] Arafat and the PLO leadership refused to condemn the attack or take action against the Palestinian Liberation Front.^[17] In what should have convinced everybody that the "Palestinian" terrorist hasn't changed, Arafat gave his support for the Iraqi occupation of Kuwait.^[18]

The Oslo Agreements

President Clinton with Yitzhak Rabin and Yassir Arafat on the South Lawn, September 13, 1993.

The PLO lost much of its financial support after the fall of the Soviet Union and its allied governments in eastern Europe. Further compounding the problem was Arafat's support of Saddam Hussein during the Gulf War; the remaining Arab governments withdrew their financial support from the PLO, diminishing its ability to yield dominance among the "Palestinians".^[19] Arafat was facing marginalization. As a result, Arafat was willing to answer Israel's peace offers and signed the Oslo accords in 1993 in order to rebuild his power by renewing relations with Israel and the United States. In the Oslo accords Arafat promised to refrain from terrorism; in return, a PLO-controlled Palestinian Authority was established as a governing body responsible for administering self-rule in the "Palestinian" territories and preventing terrorism through its police force.^[20][21] In 1994, in what would later turn out to be the most shameful moment in the Nobel Prize committee's history, the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Arafat, Shimon Peres and Yitzhak Rabin, "for their efforts to create peace in the Middle East," following negotiations leading to the Oslo Accords of 1993.^[22]

Evidence that Arafat would not abide his words of peace was immediately forthcoming. King Hussein of Jordan sent Israel a message saying "Israel is doing business with the worst possible person. Arafat has proved time and again that his word cannot be trusted."^[23] At the same time that he was signing the Oslo accords, Arafat had a pre-recorded message broadcast on Arab TV saying that the agreement was actually an implantation of the phased strategy, i.e. destroying Israel in phases.^[11] Arafat once again showed that his real plan was to dupe Israel into giving him control over more and more territories until he could expand "Palestinian" rule to include all of Israel. Other "Palestinian" leaders, such as PLO official Faisal Husseini, outright declared that the "Palestinians"’ real goal was to destroy Israel.^[24] More evidence of Arafat’s real intention in signing the Oslo accords emerged after his death.^[25] A year after signing Oslo, Arafat made a speech in a Johannesburg mosque calling for Jihad against Israel. He also compared the Oslo accords to the treaty of Hudaybiya, a peace treaty Muhammad signed with the Quraysh tribe only in order to strengthen his forces and later on use them in order to conquer the Quraysh.^[26] Arafat compared the peace agreements to the treaty of Hudaybiya once more in 1998, and that “all options are open before the Palestinian people”, meaning he will return to full blown terrorism is necessary.^[27]

Arafat support for terrorism was not limited to words. His Palestinian Authority and its police forces not only did little to stop terrorist attacks against Israelis by other "Palestinian" factions such as Hamas, but in 1997 Arafat gave Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad a green light to continue terrorist attacks against Israel.^[28] Arafat's own men also continued to be involved in terrorism. The "Palestinian" police force, which supposed to have no more than 24,000 police officers, grew to 40,000 men in 1998.^[29] In direct violations of the Oslo agreements, during the late 1990s the "Palestinian" police forces were relentlessly working on procuring and producing anti-tank weapons, anti-aircraft weapons, machine guns and hand grenades, clearly intended to be used in an upcoming confrontation with Israel.^[30] In 1997, the commander of the "Palestinian" police Ghazi Jabali ordered police officers under in his command to carry attacks against Israelis. The same year Jabali proudly declared that more than 150 members of the terrorist groups Hamas and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine were employed by the "Palestinian" police. At least 25 of these men were wanted terrorists.^[31] In addition to the "Palestinian" police, Arafat also created the Fatah-controlled Tanzim militia as part of his terrorist infrastructure.^[32]

Arafat also used anti-Israeli incitement in order to encourage terrorism.^[33]

Demographic subversion

Another means by which Arafat tried to destroy Israel was by trying to force it to comply with the so-called "right of return", the Arab demand that all the "Palestinian" refugees from the Israeli independence war and their descendants will be allowed back into Israel. If this demand were materialize, Arabs would soon become the majority population in Israel, leading to its unification with the West Bank and Gaza Strip.^[34] Arafat was an ardent supporter of the right of return until the end of his life. As late as 2004 he made statements calling for the return of all "Palestinian" refugees into Israel.^[35]

Camp David peace talks and the second Intifada

In July 2000 peace talks between Arafat and then Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak were held in Camp David. The talks’ ultimate goal was to reach a final settlement on the Israeli-"Palestinian" conflict.^[36] The Israelis offered him a "Palestinian" state on 100% of the Gaza Strip, 95% of the West Bank and joint control over Jerusalem. Due to the fact that Israeli was not willing to give all the "Palestinian" territories and agree to the right of return, Arafat rejected the offer.^[37] Two months later, in September 2000, he launched the Al-Aqsa intifada, a campaign of terrorism against Israeli. While "Palestinians" have often tried to present the intifada as a spontaneous uprising against Israel which resulted from Sharon’s visit to the temple mount, truth of the matter it was planned in advance by the Palestinian Authority, as several figures the leadership have disclosed, and the preparations for an armed confrontation with Israel were evident even before the Intifada started.^[38] His Tanzim militia played a key role in carrying attacks against Israeli.^[32] In addition to ordering his own men to engage in terrorist attacks, Arafat also instructed Hamas a to commit terrorist operations against Israel.^[39] Arafat also tried to incite Arab residents of Israel to join his terroristic campaign.^[40]

As a means to encourage suicide bombings Arafat offered money to the families of suicide bombers. In 2001, Arafat paid $2,000 to the family of a "Palestinian" homicide bomber who attacked the beach front Dolphinarium dance club in Tel Aviv, killing 21 people, mostly teenagers. More than 120 people were injured. Arafat sent the terrorist's father a letter praising his son's murderous act.^[41]

In January 2002 the Israeli navy intercepted Karine A, a weapon carrying ship intended for the Palestinian Authority. The boat included 50 tons of advanced weapons including Katyusha rockets, riles, mines and anti-tank missiles. An interrogation of the ship's crew revealed that the purchaser of the weapons was an official in the Palestinian Authority. The missiles captured had a long range and could have reached Israel's southern coastal cities.^[42]

Eventually Israel took actions against Arafat and in April 2002 launched operation Defensive Shield, in which the IDF fought against the terrorist infrastructure in the West Bank. Arafat's compound (the Mukataa) was raided. Arafat was confined to the compound until his hospitalization in 2004.^[43] "Palestinian" documents captured during the operation proved beyond doubt that Arafat was heavily involved in terrorism.^[44] Interrogations of captured terrorists yielded similar evidence.^[45][46] While the Israeli siege on the Mukataa continued, Arafat was still continuing his involvement in terrorism. On September the head of the Israeli military intelligence revealed that orders for terrorist attacks were still being given from Arafat's compound.^[28]

Death

After his health to began to deteriorate, Arafat was flown in October 2004 to a military hospital in Paris. A little more than a week later he died.^[47] His doctor confirmed that Arafat died of AIDS.^[48]

Personal life

Arafat remained single until marrying Suha Arafat (born Suha Tawil) in 1990, when he was 61. During most of their marriage, Arafat lived separately from Suha and their (supposedly) shared daughter Zahwa.^[49][50]

His marriage to Suha might have been a cover to hide his true sexual leanings. Ion Mihai Pacepa, former head of the Romanian intelligence, has written that Arafat started to have sex with other men already as a teenager.^[51] Former Democrat Party chairman Terry McAuliffe has also said that during a 2000 dinner in Washington Arafat repeatedly rubbed his leg under the table.^[52] According to former National Security Agency analyst James J. Welsh, some of Arafat's homosexual liaisons were with boys as young as 13.^[48]

These allegations, along with the fact Arafat spent most of his time apart from his wife, raise serious questions about the parentage of his supposed daughter.

Quotes

• “I come bearing an olive branch and a freedom fighter’s gun. Do not let the olive branch fall from my hand.” United Nations General Assembly, 1974.

• In the name of God, the merciful, the compassionate. But if the enemy incline toward peace, do thou also incline toward peace, and trust in God. Arafat Nobel Prize Speech ^[53]

See also

• Terrorism
• Che Guevara
• Menachem Begin
• Yitzhak Rabin

External links

• Yassir Arafat:1929-2004 'HonestReporting'
• Yassir Arafat Encyclopedia of the Orient.

References