When people think of Yasser Arafat, the first thing that comes to mind is his signature keffiyeh, either red-black-white or black-white. He wore his keffiyeh in a unique way, carefully arranging it with only his left ear visible, which is said to resemble the map of Palestine. “This is my style, the Arafat Style,” explained the man who was known as the founding father of Palestine. Arafat devoted his whole life to the just cause of restoring the lawful rights of the Palestinians. Sadly, his vision for a State of Palestine remains unfulfilled.
History has not been kind to the Palestinians. The land of Palestine was successively taken by the Jews, Persians and Romans, with incessant religious conflicts between Islam, Judaism and Christianity. After World War II, the Arabs and the Israelis fought four large-scale wars to build their own countries on this land. Many Palestinian Arabs were dispelled and became refugees. In 1964, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) was established and began the armed resistance against Israel under Arafat’s leadership. Arafat was Palestine’s hope and icon for their own State, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate. He was a good friend of the Chinese people, who visited China multiple times and met with Chinese leaders including Zhou Enlai, Deng Xiaoping and Jiang Zemin.
Arafat was a big fan of Mao Zedong and read many of his works. According to people close to him, Arafat led the Palestinians in fighting a quite successful guerrilla war against the Israelis, whose military far outmatched theirs. During those tough years, he drew much wisdom, experience and confidence in the military realm from Chairman Mao’s works on guerrilla warfare. His favorite piece was Yu Gong Moves the Mountains, which he read many times. According to him, the Chinese people have a precious spirit that cannot be bought with money. The Chinese were not afraid of imperialism, neither did he. He saw himself as the Yu Gong in Mao Zedong’s book, determined to move the mountain of imperialism.
President Jiang Zemin meeting with Yasser Arafat in 1994
At the end of 1991, after a visit to Southeast Asia, Arafat’s plane landed in Shanghai due to bad weather. He received warm welcome from the Chinese side. Before departure at the Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport, Arafat wrote in the guest book: Long live the Palestine-China friendship! My sincere gratitude! The Palestinian people salute the Chinese people. China has firmly supported the position of Palestine. We will fight shoulder to shoulder until the final victory! In 2000, President Jiang Zemin met with visiting Palestinian President Yasser Arafat and discussed the proposed founding of a State of Palestine. Jiang Zemin told him that China believes the Palestinian people have the inalienable right of national self-determination, including the right of statehood. China respects the choice of the Palestinian people. It recognized the State of Palestine and established diplomatic ties with it as early as in 1988. No matter how the situation may change in the Middle East, your decisions, if they serve the Palestinian people’s interests and the just cause, will always have the support of the Chinese government and the Chinese people.
PLO leader Yasser Arafat inspecting the People’s Liberation Army of China
Given such profound friendship, Arafat often chose to visit China when Palestine was at the critical juncture. He would frequently mention that China was the first non-Arabic country to recognize Palestine. Arafat also had a “habit” of exchanging ideas with the Chinese leadership at least once a year. In 2001, Arafat paid his last visit to China. At the time, Palestine had met the conditions for statehood according to the Oslo Accords. To gain more international support, the Palestinian leader visited more than 20 countries within a month. In China, Arafat was warmly received by President Jiang Zemin. They had an in-depth exchange of views on a number of major issues.
In 2004, Yasser Arafat passed away due to illness. President Hu Jintao sent a message of condolences to Palestine, in which he described Arafat as an extraordinary leader of Palestine and said the Chinese people had lost a great friend. Although from a foreign land, Yasser Arafat’s quest for national independence resonates with the people in China, and his friendship with China will always be cherished by the Chinese people.
President Jiang Zemin meeting with Yasser Arafat in 1994
