Arafat and the Dream of Palestine - by Bassam Abu-Sharif (Hardcover)

About the Book

A unique living history of Palestine by Bassam Abu Sharif, one of Yasser Arafat's closest advisors and the man Time magazine once dubbed the "face of terror."

Book Synopsis

Abu Sharif was one of the world's most notorious and dangerous terrorists in the 60's and 70's, acting as "minister of propaganda" for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and as a recruiter for terrorists like Carlos the Jackal. In 1972, a bomb was placed in a book and sent to him, leaving him half-blind, deaf in one ear, and almost fingerless. Finally abandoning the use of violence as a means to achieve his Palestinian nationalist aspirations, he aligned himself with Yasser Arafat, eventually becoming one of his closest advisors.

In this book, Abu Sharif, often alongside Arafat, takes us behind the scenes of all the major events in the Middle East during the last 30 years, from the secret caves in the West Bank where Arafat hid on his way to Jerusalem in 1967 to the peace negotiations in Oslo in 1993. Arafat and the Dream of Palestine combines a deeply personal account, informed by Abu Sharif's close relationship with Arafat, with a gripping, profoundly human history of Palestine.

Review Quotes

"An interesting and useful work." --Counterpunch

"An interesting and useful work, especially in the West where Tel Aviv's version of events tends to have a greater grip on the popular imagination. A true journalist, Bassam Abu Sharif rarely embellishes the facts of his story, telling it in a straightforward yet compelling manner." --uruknet.info

About the Author

Bassam Abu Sharif was a senior advisor to the late Yasser Arafat and currently serves as press officer of the PLO. He is the co-author, with former Israeli intelligence officer Uzi Mahnaimi, of The Best of Enemies about their roles in Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts. A member of the National Council of Palestine, he divides his time between Amman and Ramallah.