The late Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), Fatah and Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat
By George Swarei
Eighteen years have now passed since Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), Fatah and Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat died after his home was besieged by Israeli occupation forces.
Arafat who died in France on November 11, 2004 continues to be a symbol for the Palestinian struggle for independence and was also an international freedom fighter against oppression especially in Africa where he supported ZANLA, ZIPRA and the ANC among other revolutionary movements.
Yasser Arafat’s life was a life of struggle, dedicated to restoring the lawful rights of the Palestinian people.
An avid believer of the material, political and moral deliverance of the Palestinian people from the devastation of the 1948 Nakba; a cataclysm that saw over 700 000 Palestinians being displaced from their places of residence in what came to be known as Israel.
Arafat maintained an aura of being a beloved father figure and symbol of Palestinian resistance throughout his life. Official diplomatic lines were created between Harare and Ramallah which saw the opening of the Palestinian Embassy in Harare in 1983.
Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip gathered to celebrate the 18th anniversary of the leader closest to their heart and the father of the Palestinian revolution Cde Yasser Arafat.
When people think of Yasser Arafat, the first thing that comes to mind is his signature keffiyeh, either red-black-white or black-white. He wore his keffiyeh in a unique way, carefully arranging it with only his left ear visible, which is said to resemble the map of Palestine.
“This is my style, the Arafat Style,” explained the man who was known as the founding father of Palestine. Arafat devoted his whole life to the just cause of restoring the lawful rights of the Palestinians. Sadly, his vision for a free State of Palestine remains unfulfilled.
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