Yasser Arafat
From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Yasser Arafat or Yassir Arafat (Arabic: ياسر عرفات) (August 4 or August 24, 1929 in Jerusalem, Palestine) or Cairo, died November 11 3:30am, 2004), born Mohammed Abdel-Raouf Arafat al-Qudwa al-Husseini (محمد عبد الرؤوف القدوة الحسيني) and also known by the kunya Abu `Ammar (أبو عمّار) became known as the first leader of the Palestinian people. He was Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) from 1969 to 2004. In 1993 he also became president of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA).
In 1994, Yasser Arafat was one of the two recipients of the Nobel Peace Prize. The other was Yitzhak Rabin. Both got the prize for their peace efforts in the Middle East.
The views of him are divided. Some people see him as a hero, who fought for the cause of the Palestinian people. Others see him as a terrorist, who promoted the use of violence to reach his goals. Still other think he was a charismatic leader, but he made too many concessions to the Israeli government. Yasser died in Paris, the next day he was buried at his compound in Due to hasty funeral in Ramallah on November 12, he was reburied on November 13th, around 3 AM. He was buried in a special casket, with the hope of being buried in Jerusalem one day when Palestine becomes free and independent with Jerusalem as its capital.
[edit] External links
- Life in Palestine after Arafat, Situation worse, not what Bush and Sharon planned
- Death of Arafat, burial and reburial November 13 2004
