Arafat: A Controversial Political Legacy

Paper Summary:

The author argues that Arafat's political legacy is extremely controversial and practically irresolvable. On the one hand, he was an international terrorist and a dictator. On the other hand, he was a national hero and the father of the Palestinian people. That legacy, containing so many contradictions, as the author argues, is a reflection of Arafat's own incapacity to define his political aims and strategies; he often vacillated from one extreme to the other.

From the Paper:

"Upon his death on the 11th November, 2004, Yasser Arafat became the subject of yet another controversy. That controversy was, specifically stated, over the nature of his political legacy. Some, as reported by CNN, celebrated his death, interpreting the event as the passing away of a "ruthless terrorist and roadblock to peace" ("Palestinian Leader"). This group interprets Yasser Arafat's political legacy as one of violence, bloodshed and corruption. However, if that group numbers in the millions even, there is another equally large group which mourned Arafat's death, perceiving of it as the passing away of a great political leader and symbol of Palestinian nationhood. This group interprets Yasser Arafat's legacy as being that of a freedom fighter and patriot. However, the fact is that the issue is much more complicated than this black and white picture and a critical analysis of Yasser Arafat's political journey illustrates that he left a mixed political legacy. As this paper shall try to argue, while Yasser Arafat had been involved in terrorist activities in his early life and had become the dictator and not the liberator of the Palestinian people in the last period of his life, he was not the obstacle to peace that Israelis and the United States have insisted he was and, after his death, his legacy will of national leader who, as a freedom fighter, restored the concept of the Palestinian people, made the dream of the Palestinian state an international goal, and achieved the independence of the Palestinian decision making from the control of Arab countries."

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