Yasser - The Man of the hour
12.11.04
“Engineer Yasser Arafat” the name tag announced. That is what my dad remembers from working in the same building with the man. The year was 1963 and my dad was working in the interior ministry of Kuwait as an Engineer. He was working in the housing construction department, Engineer Yasser was in the road construction department. I pressed my dad to tell me something about Yasser, “what was he like? how was his personality? How did he dress?” on and on my questions went. My dad shrugs his shoulders. “I don’t remember, this was long time ago, all I remember is that he was there and I remember his name tag outside his office as I walked by in the corridor, that is all I remember”
Wow! this Yasser Arafat must have been some impressive guy, that all my dad remembers of him is the name tag outside his office.
Those were the days before the myth of Yasser Arafat. Back then Yasser was yet another Palestinian, yet another stateless person, nothing more, nothing less.
And then there was the forming of Fateh, the Palestinian resistance movement that was formed in Kuwait. My dad remembers going to public forums where speakers would discuss the Palestinian cause. Yasser was a frequent speaker at these forums. Again I quizzed my dad, “What did he speak about? Were his speeches eloquent? Was he passionate or emotional?” My dad shrugs his shoulders again “I don’t remember, this was long time ago, all I remember is that he was there, and that he spoke, but that is all I remember”
Wow! that Yasser sure left a lasting impression. My dad heard him speak several times and can’t remember a single thing he said. Must have been very impressive, ha?
Ok, so lets summarize what we know about this guy. He was a short ugly Palestinian guy, who looked like Ringo Star. He gave lousy speeches and lacked personal charisma. At least Ringo knew how to play drums. Yasser sure wasn’t given much to start with as far as leadership goes.
He did have other gifts. Like survival. He survived dozens of assassination attempts most of them by the Israeli intelligence, expulsion for Jordan, then siege and expulsion from Lebanon and even an airplane crash in the Libyan desert. His guardian angel deserves a vacation, he must have been working awfully hard all these years. I wouldn’t mind having his guardian angel - now that he is unemployed - as my own even though I have to attest that my own guardian angel has been doing a pretty good job so far.
His other gift was that he found ways to appeal to a wide range of the Palestinian population. He was secular but not so secular as to offend religious people. He was neither particularly left nor particularly right. He made many goodwill gestures towards the Christian Palestinian community. In a region where most leadership is either installed by the CIA or is the remains of the colonial days, Yasser was a unique Arab leader who stood up in defiance of the colonialism and the US plan for the middle east. Despite all the vilification attempts by western media, he was actually a moderate man. Ready to fight when need be, and ready to negotiate when need be. It is due to his leadership that large sections of the Palestinian community was united under one goal and one leadership.
Finally, he appealed to people because of his own personal heroism. Time and again he was willing to put his own life in danger and participate in person in the fight in order to pursue what he believed in. He wasn’t one of those leaders who sat in a cushiony office while giving orders to others to fight, like some other recently elected world leader. Throughout his life Yasser was there with his fighters, willing to participate in person and placing his own life in danger.
“I am totally fed up with carrying my gun all the time, I want to live like a human being. But, I am ready to die fighting to establish freedom for my people and my homeland”
Yasser Arafat said during the expulsion from Lebanon. These were not just words he said, these were words that he lived by.
Nobody can deny, that Yasser made some colossal mistakes during his career. The one that enraged me in particular was his support of Saddam Hussein after Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait. I still don’t understand his reasoning for such a stupid step and at the time I wished to punch him the face over it. There was corruption and elitism within the ranks of the Palestinian authority, that was apparent to everybody. There are many other mistakes, but I won’t go into it here.
The late Israeli Prime Minister, Golda Meir made the statement: "There is no such thing as a Palestinian people.", essentially telling the world that Israel had managed to completely erase the concept of Palestinians off the face of earth. At one point, that statement seemed that it might become true. At one point Palestinian refugees were scattered all over, defeated and who cared about them anyway. Well thanks to hard work of PLO headed by Yasser and the dedicated struggle of the Palestinian people nobody would dare make that statement today, because of the ridicule they would face.
When I first visited the occupied territories, I was surprised by how well the Palestinians were organized under occupation. There were various institutions and grass roots organizations functional despite the oppressive occupation. Schools, hospitals, daycares, orphanages, that were functional. I was amazed at the people’s resilience in the face of such impossible conditions. Whenever I felt depressed about the state of things in the middle east, I would remind myself of the Palestinian people. “At least they were fighting a good fight towards their freedom”, I would tell myself. Which is much more than can be said for anywhere else in the middle east.
He wasn’t flawless, he wasn’t good looking and he didn’t give eloquent speeches, but he was the founding father of our liberation movement. His humiliation was our humiliation, his victories were our victories. He placed the Palestinian cause on the international agenda, fought tirelessly and bravely against a military supported and sponsored by the only super power in the world. He put pride in the statement “I am Palestinian”.
It is with a heavy heart that I bid you farewell Engineer Yasser Arafat.
Ma’a al salama ya abu Ammar.
Wow! this Yasser Arafat must have been some impressive guy, that all my dad remembers of him is the name tag outside his office.
Those were the days before the myth of Yasser Arafat. Back then Yasser was yet another Palestinian, yet another stateless person, nothing more, nothing less.
And then there was the forming of Fateh, the Palestinian resistance movement that was formed in Kuwait. My dad remembers going to public forums where speakers would discuss the Palestinian cause. Yasser was a frequent speaker at these forums. Again I quizzed my dad, “What did he speak about? Were his speeches eloquent? Was he passionate or emotional?” My dad shrugs his shoulders again “I don’t remember, this was long time ago, all I remember is that he was there, and that he spoke, but that is all I remember”
Wow! that Yasser sure left a lasting impression. My dad heard him speak several times and can’t remember a single thing he said. Must have been very impressive, ha?
Ok, so lets summarize what we know about this guy. He was a short ugly Palestinian guy, who looked like Ringo Star. He gave lousy speeches and lacked personal charisma. At least Ringo knew how to play drums. Yasser sure wasn’t given much to start with as far as leadership goes.
He did have other gifts. Like survival. He survived dozens of assassination attempts most of them by the Israeli intelligence, expulsion for Jordan, then siege and expulsion from Lebanon and even an airplane crash in the Libyan desert. His guardian angel deserves a vacation, he must have been working awfully hard all these years. I wouldn’t mind having his guardian angel - now that he is unemployed - as my own even though I have to attest that my own guardian angel has been doing a pretty good job so far.
His other gift was that he found ways to appeal to a wide range of the Palestinian population. He was secular but not so secular as to offend religious people. He was neither particularly left nor particularly right. He made many goodwill gestures towards the Christian Palestinian community. In a region where most leadership is either installed by the CIA or is the remains of the colonial days, Yasser was a unique Arab leader who stood up in defiance of the colonialism and the US plan for the middle east. Despite all the vilification attempts by western media, he was actually a moderate man. Ready to fight when need be, and ready to negotiate when need be. It is due to his leadership that large sections of the Palestinian community was united under one goal and one leadership.
Finally, he appealed to people because of his own personal heroism. Time and again he was willing to put his own life in danger and participate in person in the fight in order to pursue what he believed in. He wasn’t one of those leaders who sat in a cushiony office while giving orders to others to fight, like some other recently elected world leader. Throughout his life Yasser was there with his fighters, willing to participate in person and placing his own life in danger.
“I am totally fed up with carrying my gun all the time, I want to live like a human being. But, I am ready to die fighting to establish freedom for my people and my homeland”
Yasser Arafat said during the expulsion from Lebanon. These were not just words he said, these were words that he lived by.
Nobody can deny, that Yasser made some colossal mistakes during his career. The one that enraged me in particular was his support of Saddam Hussein after Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait. I still don’t understand his reasoning for such a stupid step and at the time I wished to punch him the face over it. There was corruption and elitism within the ranks of the Palestinian authority, that was apparent to everybody. There are many other mistakes, but I won’t go into it here.
The late Israeli Prime Minister, Golda Meir made the statement: "There is no such thing as a Palestinian people.", essentially telling the world that Israel had managed to completely erase the concept of Palestinians off the face of earth. At one point, that statement seemed that it might become true. At one point Palestinian refugees were scattered all over, defeated and who cared about them anyway. Well thanks to hard work of PLO headed by Yasser and the dedicated struggle of the Palestinian people nobody would dare make that statement today, because of the ridicule they would face.
When I first visited the occupied territories, I was surprised by how well the Palestinians were organized under occupation. There were various institutions and grass roots organizations functional despite the oppressive occupation. Schools, hospitals, daycares, orphanages, that were functional. I was amazed at the people’s resilience in the face of such impossible conditions. Whenever I felt depressed about the state of things in the middle east, I would remind myself of the Palestinian people. “At least they were fighting a good fight towards their freedom”, I would tell myself. Which is much more than can be said for anywhere else in the middle east.
He wasn’t flawless, he wasn’t good looking and he didn’t give eloquent speeches, but he was the founding father of our liberation movement. His humiliation was our humiliation, his victories were our victories. He placed the Palestinian cause on the international agenda, fought tirelessly and bravely against a military supported and sponsored by the only super power in the world. He put pride in the statement “I am Palestinian”.
It is with a heavy heart that I bid you farewell Engineer Yasser Arafat.
Ma’a al salama ya abu Ammar.
