Yasir Arafat: A Political Biography

Rating:
Summary: Dull & polemical
Review: "Biographies" like these are made by collecting newspaper clippings about someone you have never met and paraphrasing them. The usual subjects are pop stars and Hollywood actors. No interviews, no original material of any sort, and certainly no enlightenment. A hard-line journalistic pamphlet.

Rating:
Summary: Heavy bias; buy only if you already agree before knowing
Review: Biographies should have more facts than opinions. This book is
full of opinions, and all on one 'against Arafat' side; they should
at least present the other side's arguments to the contraire.
This in itself does give some insight to mid-east troubles: niether
side is willing to even think of the other side's arguments.
If you want get a picture of Arafat (or anyone) you can always make one up yourself; looking at newstories and credible internet pages, which often cite news/mags articles themselves.

Rating:
Summary: If you want to hate Arafat, read this book!
Review: I was very disappointed with this book. I'd read Rubin's earlier "Revolution Until Victory" and was pleasantly surprised by its objectiveness. He was no fan of Arafat or the PLO, but didn't appear to go out of his way to lambaste them either. Unfortunately--and this was probably due to the intervening Al-Aqsa Intifada--"Yasir Arafat: A Political Biography" is more polemic designed to reveal Arafat as, if not the Devil himself, then at least a close personal friend, than factual biography. The Rubin's build cleverly constructed cases demonizing Arafat, usually around a kernel of fact, but by ignoring mitigating facts representative of the historical context. In essence, they write propaganda. Anyone with a moderately knowledgeable background in the Israel-Palestine conflict will find themselves, thinking "Yes, but..." very often when reading this book. In summary, if you want reasons to justify disgust or hatred for Arafat, this is the perfect book. If you want an objective biography of an admittedly flawed individual, look elsewhere.

Rating:
Summary: An illusion-shattering book
Review: Like many well-meaning European leftists I grew through my political adolescence with an ill-informed but (or should that be "therefore"?) resolute conviction that, while respecting Israel's right to exist, etc., there had to be a Palestinian state before peace in the Middle East could be secured and, fiurthermore, that Yasir Arafat was the key to that solution. This book - along with other extensive reading - confirms that view for the well-meaning illusion it was (and remains, not least in the halls of the European Union and its member states).

The book does not make Arafat out to be an evil ogre but a masterful and Macchiavellian schemer, managing to portray himself as a militant and martial Islamic leader to the Arab world but as a diplomatic yet frustrated nation-builder in the mould of Mandela to all-too-many "useful idiots" in the West. The Rubins convey - with convincing evidence, implacable logic and admirable constraint - the true extent to which Arafat and his authoritarian and anti-semitic clique (not Sharon or Israel or "US imperialism") remains the principal cause of the Palestinians' suffering and deprivation. Their insights into broader Middle East politics and the collective pathologies that pass for Arab nationalism also provide critical insights into the situation in Iraq.

If you read only one book on the Middle East this year, this is the one.

Rating:
Summary: Very bad journalism...
Review: So biaised, so unprecise, so wicked, so 'un-scientific'... really surprised that OUP is publishing this piece of very bad journalism.

Rating:
Summary: Badly Written Biography
Review: The Rubins' ARAFAT: A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY isn't necessarily a bad book, but it's a lousy biography. It's more like an extended political essay attempting to document their conclusions about Arafat's personality and worldview, by drawing relationships between Arafat's political antics to demonstrate an overall pattern that explains the failures of the Middle East peace process.

There is little of it with which I disagree, in the end. The image of Arafat as a mater tactician with absolutely no strategic comprehension is a case made quite well. Yassir Arafat was and is a terrorist at heart, hasn't any political vision for Palestinian society beyond a failed militant strategy and his own grandeur, and is and has been the biggest impediment to peace in Israel. His failures and defeats are numerous, and his victories non-existent, yet he retains incredible political stature. The Rubins identify the recurring themes of Arafat's political career, and continually restate their case. There is a fairly well-argued consistency.

None the less, this book fails to be a "political biography" (whatever that is), let alone any kind of biography. The fault is in the writing. The point of this book is to make a case, and the title should have reflected that. The image of Arafat, as a man or a political figure, remains superficial after the Rubins are done. As one reads along, Arafat remains a very distant figure. Most of the sources were from contemporary news articles, far removed from the action, and the writing never strays from a two-dimensional journalism throughout. The way quotes are used, not to explore the man but to support premises, supports that. Although in the Preface the authors allude to the fact that they have interviewed many close to Arafat, that never seems to figure in the text. In fact, the Rubins claim that many they interviewed who know Arafat personally told them they hoped their book would help explain the man to them. I doubt the end result will really do so.

There isn't really an effort to chronicle Arafat's life, political life, or career (however they many want to put it). Instead, important events are used to support their central argument with little chronological coherence, as the Rubins will flit from event to event, often years apart, to support their claims. Things that would seem important are glossed over inexcusably.

For instance, the authors dispense in two or three sentences Arafat's consolidation of control over a splintering PLO in Lebanon by alluding to some assassination attempts by other Fatah elements (there isn't any discussion what kind of efect this had on Arafat) leading to some brutality from pro-Arafat elements (we aren't told what they are), and then on to the next paragraph. Thus, a potentially fascinating and insightful study of a crucial and stressful time receives only a bare mention. The entire book is like this. The discussion of his techniques for sustaining centralized control aren't really explored very well, instead we have repeated generalizations about thriving in chaos and whatnot.

Ultimately, it will leave you unsatisfied and unimpressed if you are expecting a biography.

Rating:
Summary: lies
Review: THis book was one of the worst bios I have ever read, it was increadably biased, it almost sounded like it was written by fox news. Very little reaserch went into this book, the authors gave their opionion at every turn

Rating:
Summary: Very good book about a very bad man
Review: This is a very good book about a very bad man.

Even if you are not pro-Israel, what people don't realize is that Yasir Arafat was killing American's way back in the 1960's and 1970's.

He was responsible for the killing if US Ambassador Cleo Noel Jr. in 1973.

Arafat is evil, pure evil. This book will show you why.

Rating:
Summary: An excellent addition to the literature
Review: Yasser Arafat's centrality to the Middle East equation is hard to deny. An impressive survivor, he continues to command considerable power and clout despite the countless times his adversaries have declared him irrelevant. With this in mind, Rubin and Rubin have done students of the Middle East a great service with this able biography, by far the most complete of the five so far published. The authors track Arafat from his student days in Egypt, through his transition from one of the founders of modern terrorism to a leader commanding considerable respect on the world stage. The authors offer considerable analysis of his most fateful and often disastrous decisions, from attempting to overthrow the king of Jordan that led to the so called Black September Massacre, to his decision to back Saddam Hussein in the first gulf war. Through all of this a telling portrait of Arafat emerges, though not one that his acolytes would necessarily appreciate.

Arafat's ability to play world powers off each other, first the Soviets off the US and now the Europeans off the US, is justifiably legendary. The authors do an excellent job explaining how he does this, understanding the essential goals of each and inserting himself into their strategy. What emerges is a man whose greatest concern is not his people, but his role in history and that he should never be seen as "the traitor who made peace with the Jews." Indeed, he is quoted when he rejected the Camp David Accords that he did not want to be the man who was seen as accepting the Jewish States right to exist. The Rubin?s do not seek to turn Arafat into some sort of evil monster, but rather to put him in the context of his culture, his times, and his values. From this perspective, his motivations and actions become not only clear, but quite calculating and shrewd.

The most interesting of the authors' conclusions is that through out his long career, Arafat may have changed tactics, but that his strategy and goals remain virtually unchanged. Going back to the early 70's Arafat freely spoke of the idea of establishing a presence on some portion of the land between the Mediterranean and the Jordan by any means and then using it as a base from which to attack, demoralize, and eventually destroy the Jewish State. Given recent events it seems the world would have done well to listen to what he had to say.

Rating:
Summary: An excellent addition to the literature
Review: Yasser Arafat's centrality to the Middle East equation is hard to deny. An impressive survivor, he continues to command considerable power and clout despite the countless times his adversaries have declared him irrelevant. With this in mind, Rubin and Rubin have done students of the Middle East a great service with this able biography, by far the most complete of the five so far published. The authors track Arafat from his student days in Egypt, through his transition from one of the founders of modern terrorism to a leader commanding considerable respect on the world stage. The authors offer considerable analysis of his most fateful and often disastrous decisions, from attempting to overthrow the king of Jordan that led to the so called Black September Massacre, to his decision to back Saddam Hussein in the first gulf war. Through all of this a telling portrait of Arafat emerges, though not one that his acolytes would necessarily appreciate.

Arafat's ability to play world powers off each other, first the Soviets off the US and now the Europeans off the US, is justifiably legendary. The authors do an excellent job explaining how he does this, understanding the essential goals of each and inserting himself into their strategy. What emerges is a man whose greatest concern is not his people, but his role in history and that he should never be seen as "the traitor who made peace with the Jews." Indeed, he is quoted when he rejected the Camp David Accords that he did not want to be the man who was seen as accepting the Jewish States right to exist. The Rubin's do not seek to turn Arafat into some sort of evil monster, but rather to put him in the context of his culture, his times, and his values. From this perspective, his motivations and actions become not only clear, but quite calculating and shrewd.

The most interesting of the authors' conclusions is that through out his long career, Arafat may have changed tactics, but that his strategy and goals remain virtually unchanged. Going back to the early 70's Arafat freely spoke of the idea of establishing a presence on some portion of the land between the Mediterranean and the Jordan by any means and then using it as a base from which to attack, demoralize, and eventually destroy the Jewish State. Given recent events it seems the world would have done well to listen to what he had to say.