In Memorial Yasser Arafat; The Trully Palestinian Peace Symbol................!!
Mohammed Yasser Abdel Rahman Abdel Raouf Arafat al-Qudwa al-Husseini (Born, 24 August 1929 – 11 November 2004), popularly known as Yasser Arafat, was a Palestinian leader and a Laureate of the Nobel Prize. He was Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), President of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), and leader of the Fatah political party, which he founded in 1959.
Arafat spent much of his life fighting against Israel in the name of Palestinian self-determination. Originally opposed to Israel's existence, he modified his position in 1988 when he accepted UN Security Council Resolution 242.Arafat and his movement operated from several Arab countries. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Fatah faced off with Jordan in a brief civil war. Forced out of Jordan and into Lebanon, Arafat and Fatah were major targets of Israel's 1978 and 1982 invasions of that country. He was "revered by many Arabs," and the majority of the Palestinian people, regardless of political ideology or faction, viewed him as a freedom fighter who symbolized their national aspirations. However, he was "reviled by many Israelis".
Later in his career, Arafat engaged in a series of negotiations with the government of Israel to end the decades-long conflict between it and the PLO. These included the Madrid Conference of 1991, the 1993 Oslo Accords and the 2000 Camp David Summit. His political rivals, including Islamists and several PLO leftists, often denounced him for being corrupt or too submissive in his concessions to the Israeli government. In 1994, Arafat received the Nobel Peace Prize, together with Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres, for the negotiations at Oslo. During this time, Hamas and other militant organizations rose to power and shook the foundations of the authority that Fatah under Arafat had established in the Palestinian territories.
In late 2004, after effectively being confined within his Ramallah compound for over two years by the Israeli army, Arafat became ill, fell into a coma and died on 11 November 2004 at the age of 75. While the exact cause of his death remains unknown and no autopsy was performed, his doctors spoke of idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura and cirrhosis.
THE LAST DAYS OF YASSER ARAFAT
In a poignant image, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat is dressed in his pajamas, an overcoat thrown around his emaciated shoulders, and his eyes sunken beneath a sheepskin hat sliding down his skeletal head. In the middle of hordes of worshippers the weakened warrior is whisked from a Mercedes limo onto a waiting helicopter, rotating blades churning up dusty memories of past glories and clouds of an unknown future. We know, and perhaps he did as well: this is the last time he will see his beloved home country to which he was both savior and scourge. Arafat has fallen mysteriously ill and submits to hospitalization in Paris, where he will suddenly die––cause forever undisclosed.
Timing is everything in life, and Palestinian-Australian documentary filmmaker Sherine Salama knew the importance of following her prescient dream in August 2003, the morning she awakened convinced that Arafat was going to die, and soon. Although by nature she is “not a very political person–I’m usually much more interested in the struggle of ordinary people than in leaders,” Salama felt “a kind of duty to make a film about him before he died.” A few weeks later Ehud Olmert, then the deputy Prime Minister, threatened to assassinate or expel Arafat, and she knew she had to act swiftly.
In a poignant image, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat is dressed in his pajamas, an overcoat thrown around his emaciated shoulders, and his eyes sunken beneath a sheepskin hat sliding down his skeletal head. In the middle of hordes of worshippers the weakened warrior is whisked from a Mercedes limo onto a waiting helicopter, rotating blades churning up dusty memories of past glories and clouds of an unknown future. We know, and perhaps he did as well: this is the last time he will see his beloved home country to which he was both savior and scourge. Arafat has fallen mysteriously ill and submits to hospitalization in Paris, where he will suddenly die––cause forever undisclosed.
Timing is everything in life, and Palestinian-Australian documentary filmmaker Sherine Salama knew the importance of following her prescient dream in August 2003, the morning she awakened convinced that Arafat was going to die, and soon. Although by nature she is “not a very political person–I’m usually much more interested in the struggle of ordinary people than in leaders,” Salama felt “a kind of duty to make a film about him before he died.” A few weeks later Ehud Olmert, then the deputy Prime Minister, threatened to assassinate or expel Arafat, and she knew she had to act swiftly.
Yasser Arafat & Friends:
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