Yasser Arafat

Yasser Arafat (Arabic: ???? ?????‎) (August 4 or August 24, 1929 – November 11, 2004), born Muhammad `Abd ar-Ra'uf al-Qudwa al-Husayni (???? ??? ?????? ?????? ???????) and also known as Abu `Ammar (??? ?????), was Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) (1969–2004); President{{fn|1}} of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) (1993–2004); and a co-winner of the 1994 Nobel Peace Prize.

Fatah and the PLO

After Suez, Arafat moved to Kuwait, where he found work as a civil engineer and eventually set up his own contracting firm. Arafat had decided that the best way for Palestinians to gain control of Palestine was for them to fight and not rely on support from Arab governments.

Related Topics:
Suez - Kuwait - Palestinians - Palestine

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In Kuwait in 1959, with the help of friends Yahia Ghavani and Khalil al-Wazir (Abu Jihad) http://www.palestineremembered.com/al-Ramla/al-Ramla/Story175.html, together with a group of refugees from Gaza, Arafat founded one of the groups that became al-Fatah. According to journalist John Cooley, the name means "victory" and is also an acrostic taken from the initials, read backwards, of Harahkat al-Tahrir al Filistini (H-T-F, letters are reversed in FaTaH due to the negative meaning of the H-T-F root in Arabic.), meaning the Palestine Liberation Movement.{{fn|2}} Fatah dedicated itself to the establishment of an independent Palestinian state and the destruction of the state of Israel.

Related Topics:
Abu Jihad - Fatah - John Cooley - Acrostic - Arabic

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Arafat worked hard in Kuwait to establish the groundwork for Fatah's future financial support by enlisting contributions from the many Palestinians working there, who gave generously from their high salaries in the oil industry (ibid., p.91).

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Fatah's first operation was an unsuccessful attempt to blow up an Israeli water pump station in 1965.

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After the Six-Day War, Arafat is said to have escaped Israel by crossing the River Jordan dressed as a woman carrying a baby.

Related Topics:
Six-Day War - River Jordan

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In 1968, Fatah was the target of an Israeli Defense Force operation in the Jordanian village of Al-Karameh ("honor" in Arabic language) in which 150 relatively poorly armed Palestinians and 29 Israeli soldiers were killed. Despite the high Palestinian death toll, Fatah considered themselves victorious because of the Israeli army's eventual withdrawal. The battle was covered in detail by Time magazine, and Arafat's face appeared on the cover, bringing the wider world their first image of the man. Amid the post-war environment, the profiles of Arafat and Fatah were raised by this important turning point, as he came to be regarded as a national hero who dared confront Israel. Many young Palestinians joined as the ranks and armaments of Fatah swelled. By the late 1960s, Fatah had come to dominate the PLO, and at the Palestinian National Congress in Cairo on February 3, 1969 Arafat was appointed Palestinian Liberation Organization leader, replacing Ahmad Shukeiri. Arafat became commander-in-chief of the Palestinian Revolutionary Forces two years later and, in 1973, the head of the PLO's political department.

Related Topics:
1968 - Israeli Defense Force - Time magazine - 1960s - Cairo - February 3 - 1969 - Palestinian Liberation Organization - Ahmad Shukeiri - 1973

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