For five decades, Yasser Arafat was the most prominent face of the Palestinian national movement. He died in 2004. Look back at the legacy of the controversial leader. 
Arafat founded the group Al-Fatah in 1958, advocating for armed struggle against Israel. A decade later, the group joined the Palestine Liberation Organization, which was formed under the authority of the Arab League. Arafat, seen here in December 1968, was elected chairman of the PLO's executive committee in February 1969. 
In November 1974, Arafat addresses the General Assembly of the United Nations. "I have come bearing an olive branch and a freedom fighter's gun," he was quoted as saying. "Do not let the olive branch fall from my hand." 
Arafat meets with Iraqi President Saddam Hussein in 1988. The Palestinian leader supported Hussein during the Gulf War. 
In a speech before the United Nations on December 13, 1988, Arafat renounces terrorism and recognizes Israel's right to exist while declaring a Palestinian state. 
Arafat is greeted by Tunisian Defense Minister Abdelaziz Ben Dhia upon his arrival at the Tunis airport on April 10, 1992. Days earlier, Arafat survived a plane crash over the Libyan desert that killed the pilot and two others. 
With U.S. President Bill Clinton watching, Arafat shakes hands with Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin after the two signed the Oslo peace accord in Washington on September 13, 1993. 
On July 1, 1994, Arafat waves to a crowd of cheering Palestinians as he crosses the border into Gaza for the first time in 27 years. 
Arafat accepts the Nobel Peace Prize on December 10, 1994. He collected the prize jointly with Rabin and Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, in recognition of their historic peace accord. 
Arafat casts his ballot in Gaza City on January 20, 1996. Palestinians were voting for the first time in their history to select a president and 88-member council, and Arafat was elected president of the Palestinian National Authority. 
Arafat's wife, Suha, carries their daughter, Zahwa, in the West Bank town of Bethlehem on December 15, 1998. 
Arafat meets with United Nations Mideast envoy Terje Roed-Larsen in Gaza City on October 17, 2001. Arafat agreed to a cease-fire that would end several weeks of fighting between the Palestinian and Israeli armies. 
A Palestinian security officer inspects damage to Arafat's seaside office in Gaza City on March 10, 2002. Israeli helicopters attacked the compound hours after an Islamic suicide bombing in Jerusalem. 
Israeli soldiers enter Arafat's West Bank headquarters in Ramallah on March 29, 2002. Tanks surrounded Arafat's compound earlier in the day in retaliation for a wave of recent suicide bombings. It was the beginning of a month-long siege. 
Arafat greets supporters in Ramallah on May 2, 2002, after Israeli soldiers withdrew from his compound late the previous night. 
Arafat tours damage at his compound after it was attacked by Israeli troops on June 6, 2002 -- this time in retaliation for a suicide bombing that killed 17 Israelis, 13 of them soldiers. 
U.S. President George W. Bush announces his plan for peace in the Middle East on June 24, 2002. He called for Arafat's removal from power and the creation of a Palestinian state. 
A large explosion rocks Arafat's headquarters in Ramallah moments after Israeli troops blew up a building on September 20, 2002. It was the start of a 10-day siege. 
A state of emergency was declared in the Palestinian territories on October 5, 2003. Two days later, Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qorei, left, and Arafat attend a swearing-in ceremony for the emergency Cabinet that was appointed. 
Arafat sits with aides and medical staff in Ramallah on October 28, 2004. The Palestinian leader's health was deteriorating, and he later sought medical treatment in Paris. 
Palestinians hold a candlelight vigil for an ailing Arafat in Ramallah on November 10, 2004. A top aide said Arafat suffered a brain hemorrhage. 
French Republican Guards transport Arafat's body to a military airport on November 11, 2004. Arafat died in a Paris hospital that day at the age of 75. The cause of his death has been disputed. 
Palestinian security forces cry over Arafat's grave after he was buried at his compound in Ramallah on November 12, 2004. 
- "He did not die from a natural death," Suha Arafat said Tuesday
- She says the findings by French scientists contract those of Swiss scientists
- The French findings conclude Yasser Arafat was not poisoned with polonium-210
- Last month, Swiss scientists said there was evidence of polonium in samples
Paris (CNN) -- Yasser Arafat's widow on Tuesday questioned the findings of French scientists that the Palestinian leader did not die from radioactive polonium poisoning but rather from natural causes.
The conclusion, leaked to multiple French media agencies and Reuters, contradicts the findings of Swiss forensic scientists who concluded last month that samples taken from Arafat's exhumed body were consistent with polonium-210 exposure but did not definitely prove that he was poisoned.
"I'm convinced there is something wrong, and he did not die from a natural death," Suha Arafat said at a news conference in Paris.
She said she is requesting that the Swiss findings be made available to French authorities investigating her husband's death. She said the medical experts in Switzerland and France came from different medical fields.
"I don't doubt them. But they are different skills. They are different types of medicines," she said.
The French findings will do little to quell the rumors that Arafat was poisoned.
Arafat died at age 75 at a Paris military hospital in November 2004 after he had a brain hemorrhage and slipped into a coma. Palestinian officials said in the days before his death that Arafat had a blood disorder -- though they ruled out leukemia -- and that he had digestive problems.
Rumors of poisoning circulated at the time, but Palestinian officials denied them.
Two weeks after Arafat's death, his nephew said medical records showed no cause of death. Nasser al-Kidwa, who was the Palestinian observer to the United Nations, said toxicology tests showed "no known poison," though he refused to exclude the possibility that poison caused his uncle's death.
Polonium-210 made headlines in 2006, when it was used to kill Alexander Litvinenko, a former KGB agent who came to Britain in 2000 after turning whistle-blower on the FSB, the KGB's successor.
In a deathbed statement from a London hospital, Litvinenko blamed Russia's President Vladimir Putin, an accusation the Kremlin strongly denied.
Palestinians who view Arafat as a symbol of resistance are also quite emotional about the suspicion he was poisoned.
Arafat first led the Palestine Liberation Organization, which carried out attacks against Israeli targets, and then served as the leader of the quasi-governmental Palestinian Authority after parts of the West Bank and Gaza were returned to Palestinian control.
He was considered one of the pioneers of what became known as "television terrorism," high-profile attacks that targeted Israelis and made for big television stories.
Arafat won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1994, along with Israeli leaders Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres, for their work on the Oslo accords in 1993. The Oslo agreement was perceived at the time as a breakthrough that could lead to an independent Palestinian state and a permanent peace with Israel.
But in 2000, Arafat rejected an Israeli peace deal based on the Oslo deal. That led to a Palestinian uprising that lasted more than four years. Israel -- in retaliation for increased terror attacks on Israelis -- severely restricted Arafat's movements, confining him to his West Bank compound in Ramallah in December 2001.
Sandrine Amiel reported from Paris, and Chelsea J. Carter wrote and reported from Atlanta.
No comments:
Post a Comment