Yasser Arafat

Note to reader: Yasser Arafat’s name has been written many ways and I personally do not know which way is correct. I am choosing to write it this way because I think it has been written this way the most, but that, is only an opinion.

Second note to reader: Yasser Arafat is dead now. The PLO ( Palestine Liberation Organization) has already voted for a new leader; Yasser Arafat will be missed.

“We are very happy to come in this historic moment when we can make peace, a real peace”. Yasser Arafat said this on September 13, 1993 in the United States. He had been struggling his whole life to get back Palestine; he had been willing to do it with guns or by making a peace treaty. So he was thrilled to be finally making progress at getting Palestine or part of Palestine back.

Yasser Arafat is a hero because he did some amazing things in is life. He always tried his hardest and always tried to do his best. He did what other people could only dream of doing, he led a powerful group who wanted Palestine to call their own and he led them to peace.

Arafat was born August 24, 1929, and though Arafat claims he was born in a little house in the holy city of Jerusalem, though the actual location still remains unknown. Even though Arafat’s father was a descendant of a long line of wealthy merchants, Arafat didn’t have a very good childhood, his mother died of a disease when he was four, and his father, killed his favorite Uncle, and his favorite teacher. The deaths of Arafat’s mother, uncle and teacher played a great part in shaping Arafat’s adulthood personality.

Arafat was always challenged along the way though, he was always struggling for his life and having, at times to have to spend his nights in different countries because so many people were trying to kill him. So it really wasn’t very easy, but he was able to persevere and do what he thought was right. Arafat lived a lonely childhood; his mother died when he was four and his father treated him badly. He whipped him and killed his favorite Uncle and his favorite teacher. When Arafat grew up and led the PLO he was also challenged because two organizations were trying to take over the PLO; their names were the PFLP and the DFLP. In order to take over the PLO they had to kill Arafat and they almost did.

Arafat grew up being very determined not to let the Jews in to Palestine. Later when the Jews took over Palestine he got very frustrated when his continues attacks failed to win him an inch of Palestine ground. Though even later Arafat realized that the Jews were human and they deserve to live. Unlike most people Arafat was able to change his mind about one of his strongest beliefs. Arafat moved to Kuwait in his early adult years and could have been rich with his business, but instead he chose to spend his time and money on recovering Palestine. Arafat was also educated; he had decided to go to a school involved in politics.

Many people have opinions about Yasser Arafat’s contributions to the world. Some people think Arafat is purely malevolent. Some people claim that at times Arafat encouraged his men not to participate in terrorist groups like Black September. I think that the thing that really makes Yasser Arafat a hero is the fact that he made mistakes like a normal person, but even more like a normal person Yasser Arafat learned from those mistakes and even benefited from them.

Many people have different opinions about Yasser Arafat; In the book Yasir Arafat by Elizabeth Ferber she says “ While Arafat has been credited for bringing the Palestine cry for statehood and autonomy into the international spotlight, he was also reviled as a violent terrorist and self- possessed enemy of the Jews.”

There are reasons why Yasser Arafat might be declared a hero, and many people would argue that there are a lot of reasons that he’s not a hero, but hey that’s your opinion!