| Full
Name |
Abdel-Rahman
Abdel-Raouf Arafat al-Qudwa al-Husseini. |
| Nick
Name |
Yasser
arafat, Abu Ammar, |
| Profession |
Leader,
Statesman |
| Date
of birth |
24
August 1929 |
| Place
of birth |
According
to him he was born in Jerusalem but researchers have evidence
that he was born in Cairo |
| Died |
November
11, 2004 at Percy Military Teaching Hospital in Clamart, outside
Paris, France. |
| Religion |
Islam
- sunni muslim |
| Family |
Father:Abdel Raouf Arafat
Al-Qudwa Al Husseini,
Mother:Zahwa
Wife - Suha Tawil
Daughter-Zahwa
|
| Parents
ancestry |
father was a textile
merchant who was a Palestinian with some Egyptian ancestry
mother was from an old
Palestinian family in Jerusalem
claims that he was related
to the Jerusalem Husseini clan through his mother have
been disputed by the Palestinian historian Said Aburish.
|
| Education |
Bachelor’s
degree in civil engineering from
the University of Faud I |
| Yasser |
It was during his college years that he adopted the name Yasser,
which means “easygoing” in Arabic. |
| Previous
Occupations |
worked briefly in Egypt, then resettled in Kuwait, first being
employed in the department of public works, next successfully
running his own contracting firm. |
| Al-Fatah |
In 1958 he and his friends founded Al-Fatah, an underground
network of secret cells, which in 1959 began to publish a
magazine advocating armed struggle against Israel.
|
| PLO |
It
was also in 1964 that the Palestine Liberation Organisation
(PLO) was established, under the sponsorship of the Arab League,
|
| Survived |
escaped
death in an airplane crash, survived all assassination attempts
by Israeli intelligence agencies, and recovered from a serious
stroke. |
| Suha
Arafat |
was a Palestinian Greek
Orthodox Christian later converted to islam
marriage was a secret
for 15 months
she was 28 and he was
62 when they married
|
| Governing
style |
More
dictatorial than democratic. |
| UN |
On
November 13, 1974, Arafat made an unprecedented appearance
before the UN, wearing his military uniform with an empty
holster [he was forced to remove his pistol before entering
the chamber] around his waist,. and declared, “Today I have
come bearing an olive branch and a freedom fighter's gun.
Do not let the olive branch fall from my hand.” |
| Awards
and prizes |
Joliet Curie Gold Medal-World
Peace Council 1979
Honorary Ph.D. from Jamaat
Islamiya in Hyderabad, India -1981
Awarded Felix Houphouet
Boigny peace prize July 1994
shared the 1994 Nobel
Peace Prize with Rabin and Shimon Peres, then Israel's
foreign minister.
Received the “Golden Pegasus”
prize in Florence in June 1998
Awarded Prince of Sturias
Prize Nov. 1994
Awarded an Honorary
Ph.D. in Business Administration from the Masstricht University
of Holland on 31 Aug. 1999
|
| His
finances |
Close to $1 billion —
with investments in companies like a Coca-Cola bottling
plant in Ramallah, a Tunisian cell phone company and venture
capital funds in the U.S. and the Cayman Islands.
Forbes ranked Arafat sixth
on its 2003 list of “Kings, Queens and Despots,” estimating
his personal wealth at a minimum of $300 million.
His wife
Suha reportedly received a stipend of $100,000 each month
from the Palestinian authority budget.
|
| Style |
He wore his kaffiyeh in a unique fashion, draped over his
shoulder in the shape of Palestine, that is, all of historic
Palestine, including Israel. |
| Positions
held |
founder and president
(1952-57) of the General Union of Palestinian Students
(GUPS) in Cairo/Egypt;
founder and chairman
of the Union of Palestinian Graduates in 1956;
co-founder (with Abu Jihad)
of the first Fateh-cell in 1957; founder of Fateh party
(January 1959), until today PLO's largest faction;
Fateh leader since 1958
and its spokesperson since 1968;
member of the first Palestinian
delegation to China to confer with Premier Chou-En-Lai
in March 1964; elected chairman of the PLO Exec. Committee
appointed Commander-in-Chief
of the all-Palestinian/Arab guerilla forces in Sept. 1970;
agreed to ‘liberate Palestine by stages’ at the PNC conference
of 1974;
Was Vice – Chairman of
NAM and was the permanent Vice-Chairman of the Organization
of Islamic Conference.
President of the Palestinian
Authority
Chairman of the PLO
|
| Connection
with Saddam Hussein |
made the mistake of supporting Saddam Hussein during the Kuwait
crisis of 1990 and paid the price of political isolation in
the Gulf. |
| Refrained
from |
coffee, alcohol,tobacco |
| Facts |
His mother died when he
was 5 yrs old
Was the fifth of seven
children
Was second lieutenant
in the Egyptian Army during the Suez Crisis.
Was brought up by his
older sister
Did not attend
his father's funeral
He attributed his quivering
lips and hands to neurological damage from injuries suffered
in the 1992 plane crash.
His mother-in-law Raymonda
Tawil is a nationalist poet and journalist who used to
run the Palestine Press Service in Jerusalem.
|
| Attaining
Palestine |
The Palestinian National Council met in 1968 and revised the
Charter, adopting Fatah's commitment to liberate Palestine
by armed struggle alone. |
| His
grave |
The Palestinians had wanted to bury Arafat in Jerusalem, but
the Israelis objected. The Palestinians plan to make Arafat’s
grave a shrine, but they have expressed the intention of moving
his body to Jerusalem after achieving independence and establishing
a capital in some part of the holy city. |
| Cause
of death |
Not
very clear. Some suggestions of blood disorder due to low
blood platelet count. Also known to have suffered from Parkinson's
disease |
| Laid
to rest |
At
his compound in Ramallah. His crypt was filled with earth
from the Jerusalem City's al Aqsa mosque, the point from which
Muslims believe the Prophet Mohammed ascended to heaven.
|
| His
successor |
Mahmoud
Abbas |
| Quote |
"The
battle for peace is the most difficult battle of our lives."
|
