In 1988, after the establishment of the Palestinian state, Arafat's cause of national liberation finally ushered in the dawn. Six years later, Arafat returned to Gaza after a 27-year absence to settle, but peace did not come. In 1995, Israeli President Rabin was assassinated by extremist Jews, and the apparent peace in the Middle East was completely torn apart.
Since then, large-scale bloodshed has erupted between Palestine and Israel, in which many civilians have been killed or injured. Subsequently, Israel fired tanks and artillery into Palestine on the pretext of combating terrorism and, incidentally, imprisoned Arafat in his official residence. At the end of March 2002, multiple suicide bombings once again caught Israel in the hands of Palestinian terrorists and once again labeled Arafat as a terrorist leader.
Israel took the opportunity to push the army to a few tens of meters from Arafat's official residence, and wantonly destroyed the buildings of the official residence, cut off water and electricity, with the intention of trapping Arafat alive. In this regard, Arafat said strongly that no one can drive me away, and I will not leave Palestine when I die. In this way, he became the only national leader to work in the rubble.
On the evening of 27 October 2004, Arafat vomited violently during a meal with the Palestinian Prime Minister and former Prime Minister, and two days later, because his condition did not improve, he was taken to the Bercy Military Hospital on the outskirts of Paris, France, for treatment. On November 11, Arafat died of blood clotting in blood vessels all over his body, but some people believe that Arafat died of "polonium poisoning" and that the murderer was Israeli Prime Minister Sharon.
In the ninth year after his death, French experts announced after medical sampling tests that Arafat had died of natural causes. There is no unified account of the mystery of Arafat's death. This Legend of the Middle East left many stories and controversies after his death. Arafat is not only the father of Palestinians, but also an old friend of Chinese.
When it comes to arafat's relationship with China, Arafat always pays lip service to the phrase that China was the first non-Arab country to recognize Palestinian status. Every time there is a major event in Palestine, Arafat will come to China. Arafat exchanges views with Chinese leaders every year, especially on major international events, and he is particularly concerned about China's attitude.
In 1993, after Arafat signed the Oslo Accords in Washington, he flew directly from Washington to Beijing to personally explain to The Chinese leaders what the peace agreement was all about. Arafat, who was 69 years old in 1998, was overwhelmed by a visit to more than forty countries, but he decided to sit with his old friend China.
The Palestinians have always used Israeli paper money or dollars. After the establishment of the Palestinian state, Arafat believed that the Palestinians must have their own currency, so he decided to turn to China for help, and after conveying this idea to China, Hu Fuqing, a designer in the design department of the China Gold Coin Corporation, took over the task.
After several days and nights of continuous work, Hu Fuqing's designer presented Arafat with two sketches of Palestinian dollars. The banknote has a portrait of Arafat and a Palestinian bank on the obverse, surrounded by patterns, and behind it is the Hard-Rock Cathedral of Jerusalem. Arafat saw the banknotes and quickly praised Hu Fuqing's designer's idea.
Later, this banknote, designed by a Chinese designer, became the first Palestinian banknote. It was also the year that Arafat ended his visit to China. After returning to Palestine, the Chinese Embassy in Palestine invited him to a Chinese medicine doctor, who asked him to maintain a good work and rest and ensure adequate sleep. But Arafat just smiled, he still started working at eight o'clock every day, and only returned to the official residence at one or two o'clock at night to rest, and Chinese medicine often blamed Arafat for this.
On November 13, 2002, when Arafat met with China's special envoy for the Middle East, Wang Shijie, he excitedly hugged the old friend. In the humble VIP room, there was only a table, a few chairs, and two wall clocks, and the bearded guard captain brought two chairs to sit in the doorway, and the whole atmosphere became somewhat serious.
But when the Chinese envoy mentioned the Peking duck, the two soldiers who guarded the door began to compare their eyebrows, how should the Peking duck be eaten? Before Arafat's death, he visited China 14 times, each time visiting Palestinian students in China. Arafat often lamented that I have a deep friendship with generations of Chinese leaders, so that most Chinese remember him, perhaps Arafat's Love affair with China, but what makes the world remember him is his mysterious title of "Immortal Bird" in the Middle East.
How did Arafat's title of "Immortal Bird" come about? Before Arafat's death, Israel had carried out 75 assassinations of him. Amazingly, Arafat was able to survive every time, laughing and accepting the title of "undead bird" and joking that if the Olympics had a project to evade assassination, then I would definitely qualify to represent the Middle East.
In 1973, the Israeli army shot down a Libyan airliner, killing more than a hundred passengers and crew. Arafat had planned to take this flight, but he temporarily decided to take another flight. This inadvertent act allowed him to escape the disaster smoothly. But Arafat didn't always get so lucky and bad luck passed.
On the night of April 7, 1992, Arafat's Algerian civil aviation airliner suddenly encountered a major sandstorm while passing through a Palestinian guerrilla camp, and all telecommunications networks on board were instantly cut off, and the outside world could not contact the passengers in the plane, or even know the specific location of the plane. Afterwards, when the plane was found, the fuselage had been severed into three sections, but Arafat was only slightly bruised.
This time Death was so close to Arafat, but still did not take him away. Because of this, Arafat has become the "immortal bird" in the minds of Palestinians, and what makes the Palestinian people and middle Eastern countries relish not only his legend of immortality, but also Arafat's personal emotional life. Arafat once said that because of the peculiarities of my cause of national liberation, my partner can only be Palestinian.
In fact, Arafat had three unforgettable relationships, and his first lady was a woman named Nada. The Arab woman of Yasru, the two have a good relationship. But when the Lebanese civil war broke out in 1975, Arafat's first wife was assassinated, and Arafat was heartbroken. Many years later, he fell in love with Isabelle, a generation of film and television queens in Western Europe, but the relationship between the two gradually weakened because they were less and more, and finally ended in a breakup.
Best known for arafat's third wife, Suha. Tavel, who was a young and beautiful woman, the huge age difference did not make Suha stop chasing the great man of the Middle East. In October 1991, Arafat and Suha, who had been in love for three years, married. Arafat was 62 years old when they were married, and Suha was only 28 years old.
After the two were together, Suha served as a public relations adviser to Arafat and then as an economic adviser to the Palestinian Self-Government. Suha shared Arafat's troubles. Supposedly, it was time to win the support and affection of the Palestinian people, but in fact none of Arafat's cronies around him liked him. In 2000, Suha lived a long life of luxury in Paris under the pretext of caring for his sick daughter.
Suha and her daughter live in a luxury restaurant, from head to toe are brand-name goods, even hairstyles are specially designed by famous hair stylists. Suha also bought a luxury apartment in the wealthy district of Paris, and often visited fashion venues such as Paris Fashion Week. By contrast, Arafat is in a precarious position, and he is in danger of being assassinated at any time.
Life is simple, eating and living is no different from ordinary people. For several years that Arafat was trapped in the mansion, Suha continued to live a drunken life in Paris. It wasn't until 2004, when Arafat was critically ill, that Suha returned to Palestine to make an appearance. The public sympathized with Arafat, but at the same time could not help but criticize his indulgence of Suha.
It is rumored that Arafat gives Suha and his daughter $1.8 million a month for living expenses, or $21.6 million a year. After Arafat's death, the Pakistani government promised to give Suha $22 million a year as a living expense, according to Arafat's standards during his lifetime. This shows where the money of the poor and backward country of Palestine is spent?
How serious is the problem of corruption in the Palestinian national authorities. Although Arafat is recognized as the national hero of the Palestinian Founding Father, he has also been criticized for corruption. Although the character of Arafat is controversial, one thing is certain, Arafat has left a deep imprint on the history of the Middle East, leaving more for future generations to think about.