Yasser Arafat

Mohammed Abdel Rahman Abdel Raouf al-Qudwa al-Husseini popularly known as Yasser Arafat 

was a Palestinian political leader. He was Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) from 1969 to 2004 and President of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) from 1994 to 2004 Ideologically an Arab nationalist, he was a founding member of the Fatah political party, which he led from 1959 until 2004.

Arafat remains a controversial figure. Palestinians generally view him as a martyr who symbolized the national aspirations of his people. Israelis regarded him as a terrorist.

^[14] Palestinian rivals, including Islamists and several PLO leftists, frequently denounced him as corrupt or too submissive in his concessions to the Israeli government.

Birth and childhood

Arafat was born in Cairo, Egypt.^[15] His father, Abdel Raouf al-Qudwa al-Husseini, was a Palestinian from Gaza City, whose mother, Yasser’s paternal grandmother, was Egyptian. Arafat’s father battled in the Egyptian courts for 25 years to claim family land in Egypt as part of his inheritance but was unsuccessful.^[16] He worked as a textile merchant in Cairo’s religiously mixed Sakakini District. Arafat was the second-youngest of seven children and was, along with his younger brother Fathi, the only offspring born in Cairo. Jerusalem was the family home of his mother, Zahwa Abul Saud, who died from a kidney ailment in 1933, when Arafat was four years of age.

Arafat’s first visit to Jerusalem came when his father, unable to raise seven children alone, sent Yasser and his brother Fathi to their mother’s family in the Moroccan Quarter of the Old City. They lived there with their uncle Salim Abul Saud for four years. In 1937, their father recalled them to be taken care of by their older sister, Inam. Arafat had a deteriorating relationship with his father; when he died in 1952, Arafat did not attend the funeral, nor did he visit his father’s grave upon his return to Gaza. Arafat’s sister Inam stated in an interview with Arafat’s biographer, British historian Alan Hart, that Arafat was heavily beaten by his father for going to the Jewish quarter in Cairo and attending religious services. When she asked Arafat why he would not stop going, he responded by saying that he wanted to study Jewish mentality.^[17]

Education

In 1944, Arafat enrolled in the University of King Fuad I and graduated in 1950 At university, he engaged Jews in discussion and read publications by Theodor Herzl and other prominent Zionists.By 1946 he was an Arab nationalist and began procuring weapons to be smuggled into the former British Mandate of Palestine, for use by irregulars in the Arab Higher Committee and the Army of the Holy War militias.

During the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, Arafat left the University and, along with other Arabs, sought to enter Palestine to join Arab forces fighting against Israeli troops and the creation of the state of Israel. However, instead of joining the ranks of the Palestinian fedayeen, Arafat fought alongside the Muslim Brotherhood, although he did not join the organization. He took part in combat in the Gaza area (which was the main battleground of Egyptian forces during the conflict). In early 1949, the war was winding down in Israel’s favor, and Arafat returned to Cairo from a lack of logistical support.^[17]

After returning to the University, Arafat studied civil engineering and served as president of the General Union of Palestinian Students (GUPS) from 1952 to 1956. During his first year as president of the union, the University was renamed Cairo University after a coup was carried out by the Free Officers Movement overthrowing King Farouk I. By that time, Arafat had graduated with a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering and was called to duty to fight with Egyptian forces during the Suez Crisis; however, he never actually fought Later that year, at a conference in Prague, he donned a solid white keffiyeh–different from the fishnet-patterned one he adopted later in Kuwait, which was to become his emblem.

Yasser Arafat
ياسر عرفات
Yasser Arafat awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, Norway in December 1994
1st President of the Palestinian National Authority
In office 5 July 1994 – 11 November 2004
Prime Minister	Mahmoud Abbas Ahmed Qurei
Succeeded by	Rawhi Fattouh (interim)
3rd Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization
In office 4 February 1969 – 29 October 2004
Preceded by	Yahya Hammuda
Succeeded by	Mahmoud Abbas
Personal details
Born	Mohammed Abdel Rahman Abdel Raouf al-Qudwa al-Husseini 4 / 24 August 1929 Cairo, Egypt
Died	11 November 2004 (aged 75) Clamart, Hauts-de-Seine, France
Resting place	Arafat’s compound, Ramallah, Palestine
Nationality	Palestinian
Political party	Fatah
Spouse(s)	Suha Arafat ​ (m. 1990)​
Children	1
Profession	Civil engineer
Signature
Nickname(s)	Abu Ammar[1]

Mohammed Abdel Rahman Abdel Raouf al-Qudwa al-Husseini (4^[2][3] / 24^[4][5] August 1929 – 11 November 2004),