Arafat: The Biography

It is over thirty years since Yasser Arafat swept onto the world stage as leader of the Palestine Liberation Organisation, a machine gun in one hand and an olive branch in the other. During that time, until his death on 4 November 2004, he became many things to many people: to ordinary Israelis a terrorist godfather whose desire for the complete annihilation of their state was only thinly veiled; to previous US administrations a Nobel Peace Prize-winner and the only Palestinian to do business with; to the Bush Whitehouse a pariah once more.