The Pistol and the Olive Branch
November 12, 2004
For 40 years the father of the Palestinian independence movement, Yasir Arafat carefully cultivated – some might say crafted – an effective image as the face and symbol of his people’s struggle. If everything is controversial when it comes to Arafat, it is also contradictory. Depending on which Arafat you choose to focus on, he is either terrorist or pacifist, fanatic or negotiator, murderer or martyr. Brooke examines the evolving media portrait of an iconic and inscrutable figure.
