Arafat: a Political Biography is an exclusive, timely and revealing
book that meticulously unravels Arafat's own personal story of the
diplomatic breakthrough with Israel, symbolized by the Washington
handshake. Alan Hart served as a linkman between Arafat and Peres,
and was successful in taping two-hundred hours of conversation with
Arafat. Even so, he says, "Arafat is a man of secrets. He could not
have survived the many attempts on his life to date if he had not
wrapped himself in mystery."
The book portrays the inner life of Arafat chronologically,
methodically and vividly. The dramatic story of Arafat is presented
in depth by the author in cooperation with the top leadership of
the PLO - Khaled al-Hassan, Hani al-Hassan, Khalil al-Wazir and
Salah Khalaf. He analyzes the dynamics of the PLO and its survival
against all odds. He also describes Arafat's imperative role in
keeping intact the rank and file of the PLO in the face of all
attempts at the disintegration of the organization, and in
preserving its legitimacy vis-a-vis the Palestinian people in his
endeavor for political accommodation with Israel.
Arafat, who has survived several assassination attempts, has
contrived to convince his top political aides, along with the
majority of the Palestinians to make "unthinkable concessions to
Israel for the sake of peace." Of course, Arafat's remarkable
courage and steadfastness had already made him the undisputed
leader of the Palestinians and one of the respected leaders of
modem times.
It is important to note that the laborious effort exerted by the
author in interviewing Arafat over a period of fifteen years adds
to the credibility of the book and makes it mandatory reading for
specialists and laypeople alike. In fact, the historic and
political expose of the Middle East through the person of Arafat,
and his political journey towards Palestinian resurgence, is the
essence of the book.
The book opens with a prologue updating current Middle Eastern
politics and diplomacy. A long introduction follows after which
come twenty-four chapters divided into three main parts. The first
deals with a profile of Arafat and a brief account of the causes of
the Palestinian problem. The second treats the underground years,
Arafat's early life and his confrontation with the intelligence
services of the front-line Arab states. The third deals with his
struggle to keep the Palestinian cause alive in the Arab world, the
international community and vis-a-vis Israel.
In gathering this wealth of information, the author has depended on
exclusive interviews with top PLO leaders, such as Abu Jihad and
Abu Iyad (code names for Khalil al-Wazir and Salah Khalaf). In
addition, the author has extracted many inside stories from
Intissar al-Wazir (Abu Jihad's wife), Ina'm Arafat (Arafat's
sister) and Suha Tawil (Arafat's wife). A major credit goes to the
late Khaled al-Hassan, who was the top advisor to Arafat, for
providing the author with contacts with Arafat. One exclusive
section of the book recounts the secret love of Suha-Tawil and
Arafat, investing him with another dimension - that of the simple
human being aspiring for a normal family life. In this, Hart has
relied heavily on the information provided by Mrs. Arafat. She
tells of the four years of agony and social pressures that both she
and her husband went through before they disclosed their secret
marriage. The author concludes with an assessment of Arafat's place
in history and how as a "peacemaker [he] assisted Israel in saving
itself from itself."
The book is basically about two journeys. The main one is Arafat's
into the reality of the existence of Israel as the military
superpower of the region, and the need for the Palestinians to come
to terms with it by making "unthinkable concessions to it, if they
were ever to achieve even a minimum of justice." The other is the
author's own journey into the reality of Yasser Arafat as the
leader and the individual. In his opening chapter, Hart says, "when
you don't know Arafat you can't like him," but as he progresses
along his course, he discovers there are two men with the same
name: one is the Arafat as stereotyped by Israel's propaganda
machine "with bottomless hate in his heart;" the other is the real
Arafat who is the chairman of the PLO and the symbolic leader of
the Palestinian people.
The book furnishes a vivid, detailed description of the history of
the PLO since its inception and even earlier, when Arafat and his
top aides were students at Cairo University in Egypt. This period,
which is well¬ documented, reflects Arafat's early activities
in Egypt during President Nasser's era.
The author also dwells on the impact of the 1967 war along with the
refugee problem on the Palestinian leadership. Then follows the
PLO's showdown with Hussein in Amman in 1970, Arafat's leadership
of the Palestinian National Council, his speech at the U.N. in
1974, and his position on the Camp David Accords of 1979 and
Israel's invasion of Lebanon in 1982. The author provides a
detailed analysis of Arafat's policies during the invasion and of
his handling of the Fatah dissidents - Abu Musa and Abu Nidal
¬thus, giving further credibility to the book.
With the exit from Lebanon in 1982, the Palestinian leadership
suffered from a political vacuum, a fact which prompted Arafat to
turn to the Occupied Territories. The author covers this period of
1982-1987 with a detailed analysis of the developments - regionally
and internationally - that led to the Intifada which, since its
eruption on December 8, 1987, has defied the status quo and opened
new avenues for peace in the region. In fact, it has come to the
fore as the most complex part of the Arab-Israeli conflict,
urgently influencing international, and to a lesser degree Israeli,
public opinion. The dramatic impact of the Intifada has brought
about the creation of universal awareness of the "unsustainability
of the status quo" (i.e., the Israeli occupation). However, neither
this awareness, nor the Intifada's own remarkable unanimity and
staying power, could have been accomplished without the
mobilization of the Palestinians. Conditions were now ripe for the
PLO to consider what was once "political suicide": negotiating a
peace agreement with Israel.
Hart devotes an important section to a clear exposition of Arafat's
position vis-a-vis the Gulf crisis and the Gulf War, refuting many
of the distorted analyses that have stereotyped Arafat and the PLO
as Saddam's stooges. He justifies Arafat's position and his
intentions in settling the Iraq/Kuwait conflict through Arab good
offices and mediation. He also shows how American and British
diplomacy maneuvered the framing of Saddam to the point of no
return. He maintains the Gulf War was a well-orchestrated showdown
with Iraq in order to strip the latter of its military power and
political clout in the Gulf region, thus paving the way for a total
control by the U.S. of this region and its oil.
Indeed, Palestinian and Arab emotions were with Saddam, and Arafat
could not have alienated himself by being on the other side of the
fence. This sense of pragmatism by Arafat boosted his status and
paved the way for future diplomatic endeavors that have culminated
in the Madrid Conference, Washington, Oslo and the Cairo agreements
of 1994. In the context of the Gaza-and-Jericho-first plan, the
author gives a meticulous description of the Arafat/Rabin
controversy over the area of Jericho, a wealth of details
reflecting the complexities of the peace process.
Arafat: a Political Biography is a well-documented book,
professionally researched and written, which makes it an invaluable
reference work on the Palestinian cause and leadership. The author
should be commended for such a comprehensive biography of Arafat,
the man who led his nation from revolution to state-building.