Since his death ten years ago this week, the life, the accomplishments and the failures of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat have continued to have profound ramifications on the Middle East. Just a few days before the anniversary of his death, bombs struck the houses and cars of leaders of his Fatah organization in the Gaza Strip, reigniting tensions between Fatah and Hamas and leading to the cancellation of a planned memorial.
Arafat is still revered as a selfless nationalist by many Palestinians, but his many opponents still view him as an authoritarian leader more concerned with maintaining his grip on power. Others still see him as a terrorist more committed to violence than peace.
A consummate showman, Arafat demonstrated throughout his career that he understood the power of imagery and media attention, making the cover of TIME in 1968 for the first of several appearances. He rarely deviated from his carefully crafted ensemble of a black-and-white keffiyeh over olive-green uniform, a look that reflected his commitment to the Palestinian cause and his willingness for armed struggle.
Has ten years worth of dust settled enough on his controversial and dichotomous legacy that we can at least make broadbrush statements that refer to him loosely as the Arab Middle East's Che Guevara - a national icon that rose above his cause and came to espouse global countercultural movements as a popular rebel sticking it to the man?
Without eulogizing this diamond in the rough, less-than-eloquent and lacking something of the Bibi Netanyahu slick English and international charm, we can remember Yasser Arafat as a very human hero, far from untouchable. A man of many faces, and shades of keffiyeh plaid, who was one thing to his arch nemesis Ariel Sharon and still another to his chief rival Hamas's Khaled Mashal.
The ten-year anniversary of Arafat's death may signal the end of an era of national liberation heads and larger than life freedom fighters or anti colonial icons. He leaves us with-- much akin to Che's styliszed face -- a symbolic fossilized headscarf insignia that has now flooded the European high-street in a rainbow variety of fashion accessories and gap year traveller gear.
Here we share 10 iconic images of “Abu Ammar” that best encapsulate his life and his checkered, keffiyeh-style legacy.
