After Arafat; Life and Times: He Burst On to the World Stage 30 Years Ago 'Bearing an Olive Branch and a Freedom Fighter's Gun'. But What Drove Him to Be so Controversial? David Pratt Investigates
Sunday Herald › November 12, 2004
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Summary
TO people around the world, he's the man in the chequered headscarf. For some, a great defender. For others, a corrupt dictator. Loved and loathed, he has been on the world stage longer than any other current leader, apart from Fidel Castro. And, like the charismatic Cuban, he has always been larger than life.
"If Yasser Arafat didn't exist, you would have to invent him." commented the noted Egyptian journalist Mohammed Sid-Ahmed during the early days of the first Camp David Conference.See the full content of this document
Extract
After Arafat; Life and Times: He Burst On to the World Stage 30 Years Ago 'Bearing an Olive Branch and a Freedom Fighter's Gun'. But What Drove Him to Be so Controversial? David Pratt Investigates
Personally, I only ever met Arafat once. It was some time ago and lasted seconds after I was introduced to him in Ramallah along with a group of other visiting journalists.
When I later told a Palestinian acquaintance of my brief encounter, he said he was glad I hadn't got the chance to question Arafat. "For an outsider to criticise him in the company of Palestinians is like intervening in a family dispute; even those with th...See the full content of this document
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