Leaving it all behind

In a post-Arafat world, Palestinians have a new opportunity for peace with Israel | Mindy Belz

No matter who becomes the Palestinian figurehead in the weeks following the death of Yasser Arafat, his replacement is unlikely to be as infamously popular with schoolchildren. At Purim, when young Israelis dress up much like Americans at Halloween, the most popular costume year after year is the black-and-white kaffiyeh and three-day stubble of the world's best-known Palestinian. Such is the arc of the patriarch's controversial life: part folk hero, part war legend, and part ghoul.

Mr. Arafat arose from guerrilla obscurity in the aftermath of the Israeli-Arab Six-Day War to lead, beginning in 1969, a wide-ranging group of militant Palestinian factions known as the Palestine Liberation Organization, or PLO. His tenure as PLO chairman lasted until a Paris hospital announced his death on Nov. 11—spanning the terms of 11 Israeli prime ministers and nine U.S. presidents.

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November 20, 2004, Vol. 19, No. 45

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