Yasir Arafat stands as one of the most resilient, recognizable and controversial political figures of modern times. The object of unrelenting suspicion, steady admiration and endless speculation, Arafat has occupied the center stage of Middle East politics for almost four decades. Yasir Arafat is the most comprehensive political biography of this remarkable man. Forged in a tumultuous era of competing traditionalism, radicalism, Arab nationalism, and Islamist forces, the Palestinian movement was almost entirely Arafat's creation, and he became its leader at an early age. Arafat took it through a dizzying series of crises and defeats, often of his own making, yet also ensured that it survived, grew, and gained influence. Disavowing terrorism repeatedly, he also practiced it constantly. Arafat's elusive behavior ensured that radical regimes saw in him a comrade in arms, while moderates backed him as a potential partner in peace. After years of devotion to armed struggle, Arafat made a dramatic agreement with Israel that let him return to his claimed homeland and transformed him into a legitimized ruler. Yet at the moment of decision at the Camp David summit and afterward, when he could have achieved peace and a Palestinian state, he sacrificed the prize he had supposedly sought for the struggle he could not live without. Richly populated with the main events and dominant leaders of the Middle East, this detailed and analytical account by Barry Rubin and Judith Colp Rubin follows Arafat as he moves to Kuwait, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Tunisia, and finally to Palestinian-ruled soil. It shows him as he rewrites his origins, experiments with guerrilla war, develops a doctrine of terrorism, fights endless diplomatic battles, and builds a movement, constantly juggling states, factions, and world leaders. Whole generations and a half-dozen U.S. presidents have come and gone over the long course of Arafat's career. But Arafat has outlasted them all, spanning entire eras, with three constants always present: he has always survived, he has constantly seemed imperiled, and he has never achieved his goals. While there has been no substitute for Arafat, the authors conclude, Arafat has been no substitute for a leader who could make peace.

Yasir Arafat: A Political Biography

Biographies & Memoirs

Judith Colp Rubin

Barry M. Rubin

Historical

Oxford University Press

Concise yet comprehensive, this one-volume reference examines the history of terrorism in the modern world, including its origins and development, and terrorist acts by groups and individuals from the French Revolution to today. Organized thematically and regionally, it outlines major developments in conflicts that involved terrorism, the history of terrorist groups, key aspects of counterterrorist policy, and specific terrorist incidents.Initial chapters explore terrorism as a social force, and analyze the use of terrorism as a political tool, both historically and in the contemporary world. Subsequent chapters focus on different parts of the world and consider terrorism as a part of larger disputes. Each chapter begins with a historical introduction and analysis of the topic or region, followed by one or more chronologies that trace events within political and social contexts. A glossary, selected bibliography, and detailed index are also included.

Chronologies of Modern Terrorism

BARRY RUBIN

History

Routledge

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Books by Judith Colp Rubin