[news] YASSER ARAFAT, 1929-2004

[Resist!ca]

Although his political obituary was written again and again, Yasser Arafat displayed a legendary tenacity and an amazing ability to pull through at the eleventh hour, usually thanks to his remarkable skill in cobbling together coalitions and allies from very disparate backgrounds. Trapped by Ariel Sharon in the rubble of his Ramallah headquarters, though, Arafat was marginalized politically and virtually powerless militarily since the murderous Israeli attack on Palestinian cities in March-April 2002 that killed over 500 people and destroyed most of the infrastructure of the Palestinian Authority. He departs the Palestinian and Middle Eastern political stage as a wraith of his former self, with no political heir apparent.

URL: http://resist.ca/story/2004/11/10/204845/54