Arafat: From Defender to Dictator

by Saïd K. Aburish

Book Overview

In this meticulously researched and iconoclastic work, Said Aburish, the internationally respected Palestinian political analyst and writer, turns the popular western perception of Yasser Arafat... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1582340005
• ISBN13: 9781582340005
• Release Date: October 1998
• Publisher: Bloomsbury USA
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 1.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.4" x 6.4" x 9.6"

Customer Reviews

Very well researched

Even though an interview with Arafat in which he could have offered some justifications to counter Aburish's accusations, the book still managed to safely sail to the shore of objectivity. With or without Arafat, the amount of information acquired from his aides and from news reports makes the book fairly credible. The book revolved around two main themes: First, Arafat has always put his leadership concerns over all other matters including vital Palestinian interests. Second, the Israelis never intended to recognize the Palestinian leadership as the representative of the Arabs residing in the occupied territories. Instead, it opted for trying to deal with the Jordanian leadership as the representative of these Palestinians and using a policy of an iron fist with them. An articulate Aburish argues that the peace process was born dead for three main reasons. Arafat's tribal behavior and corruption made him impose his leadership on the Palestinians living in the territories whereas the real leadership was offered by the residents themselves such as Al-Shafi, Ashrawi and Husseini. Second, the Israeli never stopped creating new realities by constantly expanding their settlements in Palestinian territories and errecting new ones, a situation which made the Palestinians always doubtful of the Israeli true intentions toward a durable peace. While Arafat believed that some Israeli concessions would beef up his leadership after he was ejected from Beirut in 1982 and lived since then in Tunisian exile, Israel thought that with minimum concessions it could force Arafat to police and supress the Palestinians living under occupation. The end result (not in the book), was the collapse of the peace process and an increase in violence, which creates a bleak picture of the future of peace and makes both the Palestinians and the Israelis head into oblivion.

A controversial biography of a controversial politician

I am convinced that there simply cannot be a biography of some one like Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, which would be universally recognized as balanced and objective. The attempt in this book is by Said Aburish, a Christian Lebanese journalist based in London and who holds an American passport. Although the author feels his background qualifies him better than non-Arab writers to write such a book, I well anticipate that some, if not many, readers may see Aburish's backgound alone as enhancing or diminishing his credibility in writing a biography of a controversial personality who has been at the center of a bitterly divisive conflict in the Middle East.And much as the author strives to a journalistic book, full of information which he presents as factual, his tone is hardly non-partisan and one can hardly describe his portrait of Arafat as flattering. From the beginning, Aburish asserts QUOTE without doubt UNQUOTE that Arafat's birthplace, long shrouded in mystery, is Cairo, and that, notwithstanding the time he spent among Palestinians, Arafat still speaks Arabic like an Egyptian, to the point where QUOTE West Bankers did not like his Egyptian accent and ways and found them alien.UNQUOTE The book is full of other anecdotes of Arafat's personal life, including his uneasy relationship with a father whose funeral he did not attend.These journalistic anecdotes belie the character of the book which is fundamentally a political commentary on the Middle East conflict. Aburish gives credit to Arafat for three strategic choices: fostering a Palestinian identity to counter Israel rather than relying on Arag governments to do the bidding for the Palestinians; choosing armed struggle which earned the Palestinians world recogntiion; and, later, pursuing (or attempting to pursue, perhaps) a peaceful settlement with Israel. But Aburish is also categorical in his judgment that Araft is unfit to serve as a modern leader of Palestinians, comparing him to QUOTE an uneducated wily Arab chief UNQUOTE and holding him responsible for dictatorial ways which he says has supressed the Palestinian people and created a corrupt entity in the Palestinian Liberation Organization. Not surprisingly, Aburish volunteers a proposed replacement for Arafat in the triumvarate of three well-known Palestinians who have been know as able negotiators in Washington.With a proper filter to sort fact from opinion and a framework for contextualizing this book, a careful reader can find value in Aburish's otherwise well written biography.

Brilliant pro-Palestinian portrayal of an opportunist

This book goes a long way to explaining why the Palestinian people have yet to find justice. Most 'biographies' of Arafat are caricatures which do not fully explain Arafat - either absurdely critical or absurdly adulatory. Aburish cuts down the middle, demonstrating time after time how Arafat's leadership persists, despite continually snatching defeat from the jaws of victory and despite surrounding himself with a coterie of corrupt hangers-on . Far from being a harsh critic, Aburish simply marshalls all the facts and then lets them (largely) speak for themselves. It is precisely Aburish's deep sympathy for the Palestinian people, yearning for freedom, which makes this biography so devastating. A brilliant portrayal of political corruption and opportunism.

Arafat: The Survivor

Palestinian journalist Said K. Aburish has written a systematic and scholarly overview on the political life of Yasser Arafat. With close attention to details and the factual precision of an historian or political scientist, Aburish paints a unique, although not surprising picture of the leader of the Palestinian Authority. Although most reviewers have noted Aburish's pungent critique of Arafat as an opportunistic, ever corrupt, and self-absorbed dictator, I find Aburish's Palestinian worldview tempers his criticism of Arafat and in some ways, backhandedly salutes and legitimates Arafat's actions over 40 years of fighting for the Palestinian cause. This humanizes Arafat and allows readers to look at him as one would Bill Clinton, Ronald Reagan, etc. This book is dense and contains information about Arafat's rise and his relations with his Arab brethren, the Israelis, and the USA. Interestingly, Arafat's rise to prominence, first with his Fatah (Conquest) organization and then as PLO head, occurs roughly over the period of profound tension and warfare between Israel and the Arabs over the Palestinian question (1960s-1980s). Aburish does a brilliant job portraying the character of the man and his ways (Arafat likes cornflakes with tea, "Tom and Jerry" cartoons, and can have a hot temper). Despite Arafat's penchant for opportunism and, at times, Machiavellian tendencies, Arafat appears to be more sensitive to peace than some have given him credit. Readers will learn much about recent (Cold War-era) Middle East history and politics. They will also learn much about the seemingly perpetual feud within the Arab world, and within the Palestinian political community as well. Aburish's book is dense, yet readable, and an excellent education on Arafat, the enigmatic, yet omnipresent leader of the Palestinians. Hence, this book will help one understand the current crisis(post-September 28, 2000 when the Al-Aqsa intifada started) and how it is once again encompassing Middle Eastern politics.

A reader from UK

I have to credit Aburish for his novel approach to writing this biography. His work is directed at audience who are not familiar with the culture of the region, and hence elaborates on it whenever he sees it appropriate. Since I have grown up in the culture that he describes, I can say that he is fair in explaining the cultural landscape of the region.Aburish dedicates the first 8 chapters of the book to pre-1991, i.e. before the Madrid Conference. In those chapters he explains how Arafat, with his unique traits, managed to make the world address the Palestinian problem. Up till this point, Arafat is portrayed as the irreplaceable leader. In chapters 9 and 10, which stand alone and can be read without reverting to any of the previous 8, Arafat is portrayed as brutal dictator, always trying to appease his American and Israeli "counterparts". Those chapters are very brief and I would have liked to see more about the last ten years in Arafat's life. I have to congratulate Aburish for his courage in writing this biography of a man that is mysterious to everyone who has dealt with him.