The Daily Telegraph has an interesting account of a meeting with Yasser Terrorfat. I have reproduced the full article below. What it shows is a man who is delusional, unrepentant, and extremely smelly.
The first thing one notices about Yasser Arafat is not his chequered headscarf, folded in the shape of the map of Palestine; not his surprisingly short stature; not even his trembling lips or pale hands. What catches the eye is a shimmering layer of lapel badges that cover his khaki tunic.Mr Arafat proudly looks down at the pin-cushion that is his chest, and points out some of his favourites: a gilded menorah offered by the little Samaritan community in Nablus; a boy scout’s badge; a cross made by an Israeli and a Palestinian flag, symbol of the Israeli peace movement; and several emblems of pro-Palestinian friendship groups around the world.The Palestinian “president” has always been an improbable leader – clown-like in the face of repeated tragedies, yet an icon that infuriates anyone who deals with him.For the past 41 months, Mr Arafat has been confined to his bombed-out headquarters in Ramallah by Israel, whose prime minister, Ariel Sharon, has declared him to be “irrelevant”.The former British police fort, known as the Muqataa, has been steadily reduced to rubble by Israeli military assaults. But Mr Sharon has not yet dared to kill Mr Arafat or tried to evict him.The Palestinian leader says his situation makes “no difference” to him. “It is not my first time to face these troubles,” said the man who lived through at least two sieges in Lebanon, one by Israel and one by Syria.Yet the prolonged house arrest is clearly irksome. Egyptian mediators are trying to use Israel’s plan to withdraw from Gaza as a lever to extract Mr Arafat from his prison, but there seems little chance of success in the short term. He shrugged off the planned Gaza “disengagement” saying: “The withdrawal from Gaza was offered to me at Camp David [in 1977] by Sadat and Begin. We discussed it and said ‘No, not Gaza alone’.”Nevertheless, Mr Arafat seems interested in the prospect of being able to “liberate” Gaza. He said: “We are insisting it must be a withdrawal. Not just a redeployment.”Arriving at the Muqataa is reminiscent of being in Beirut at the height of the Lebanese civil war. Under floodlights, the eviscerated buildings, mounds of masonry, and mangled cars appear as ghostly silhouettes. The main doorway is a chicane of cement-filled drums, all covered in canvas awnings.Inside, the air is stale with the smell of sweat, food and a whiff of urine. Not surprisingly, Mr Arafat’s doctors have advised the Palestinian leader to install air purifiers and an oxygen pump to make his bunker more bearable.He tries to get some exercise by walking in circles around his office or, if Israeli soldiers are not nearby, along a covered passage linking his main block to an annexe. He keeps his trademark gun by his desk.Mr Arafat’s office doubles as cabinet room and dining mess. It is part grandfather’s study and part adolescent’s room. His walls are covered in posters denouncing the killing of the pro-Palestinian activists Rachel Corrie and Tom Hurndall. Mr Arafat has also pinned up an enlargement of a Christmas card depicting the three wise men prevented from going to Bethlehem by Israel’s new security wall in the West Bank.While the table is covered with trays of Palestinian delicacies for visitors, Mr Arafat eats a simple meal of soup, vegetables and steamed garlic. He reaches into his plate to give each guest pieces of sweetcorn and broccoli.The conversation is unfocused, but has constant themes – Mr Arafat’s importance in history, his relevance to the present, the suffering of Palestinians, the wickedness of the Israelis and their blindness to his reasonable offers to make a “peace of the brave”.At no point would he accept that Palestinians, or he personally, shared any blame for the catastrophe of the intifada.He claims to control every member of the Palestinian security forces, yet is unable to restrain the gunmen and suicide bombers without political concessions. He says he has enforced several ceasefires, but Israel has broken them all.At the age of 75, Mr Arafat seems convinced that the tide of history will once again move in his favour. Even now, Mr Arafat says, Mr Sharon sends frequent secret envoys, including his son Omri, to talk to Palestinian leaders.“Why is he sending his son to me?” asked Mr Arafat. His smile suggested a firm but questionable conviction that the road to peace runs through his bunker. But like the Muqataa, Mr Arafat’s authority is steadily crumbling.
Update: Terrorfat’s cousin “Chocolate” Moussa has reportedly survived an explosion, thought to be an assassination attempt. It’s either that, or he accidentally lit a match in the Muqataa.
