Yasser Arafat
Yasser Arafat
Mohammed Yasser Abdel Rahman Abdel Raouf Arafat al-Qudwa, popularly known as Yasser Arafator by his kunya Abu Ammar, was a Palestinian leader. He was Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization, President of the Palestinian National Authority, and leader of the Fatah political party and former paramilitary group, which he founded in 1959. 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...
ProfessionWorld Leader
Date of Birth24 August 1929
CityCairo, Egypt
I come bearing an olive branch in one hand, and the freedom fighter's gun in the other. Do not let the olive branch fall from my hand.
Choose your friends carefully. Your enemies will choose you.
What do you think this very difficult situation will push? Especially in the hearts of those who are facing the starvation, facing the unemployment, facing this siege, facing the tragedy of their families - the poverty of their families. Some of them, they didn't find food to eat. What do you expect from them? In spite of death, our people are still patient. But patience has limits.
I can't let it pass when you say: "You are the weak party." No, I am not the weak party. I am the man who is making the war. I am the man who is making the peace.
Peace for us means the destruction of Israel. We are preparing for an all-out war, a war which will last for generations.
The Palestinian people have no national identity. I, Yasser Arafat, man of destiny, will give them that identity through conflict with Israel.
Many of the Israelis begin to understand and discover the realities and the facts. They can't demolish five million Palestinians. They can't annihilate them.
I am not receiving orders from Ariel Sharon.
If there is any Arab problem we can solve it inside the Arab League. But we are going to deal with the other side, with the Israelis.... It is not me who will decide who will invite, to speak frankly. It is not me, it is not the Arab side, it is not the Israelis who will decide who will invite.
The Amman Agreement failed because there was American pressure, and Israeli pressure, on Jordan to deal alone.
We have absolute support from all our masses inside our occupied territories and even outside our occupied territories. The "War of the Camps" [in Lebanon] is another picture of this strong support of our masses.
When American administration will find that their interest is to follow up with the international conference and to find peace in this area, they will search not only for me, but for any Palestinian to speak with him. And they will say, "We have five million Arabs in the United States. We can't avoid them."
I'm a man of history. My vision is guiding me, my clear vision. It is not by chance that the currents of peace are increasing daily inside Israel.
It is another face in the new atmosphere of many leaders inside Israel. No doubt it is something new. Actually, Ezer Weizman is a Palestinian. He was born in Haifa.