cover image Freedom & Its Discontents

Freedom & Its Discontents

Peter Marin. Steerforth Press, $24 (0pp) ISBN 978-1-883642-24-2

In this well-organized study, Rubenstein (The People of Nowhere) does his best to fathom the enigma of the Palestinian leader and Nobel peace prize recipient. He defines the highly centralized nature of Arafat's leadership, his austere way of life, his astuteness with regard to personal security, his relationship with the woman he married in 1990 (``The ambitious Suwa forced herself on the PLO leadership'') and his awareness of his own unprepossessing appearance and lack of public-speaking skills. Rubenstein was personally charmed during their three-hour meeting (``a small man, gentle, delicate, and extremely well mannered'') but does not hesitate to discuss weaknesses of character and judgment in the PLO leader: his readiness to make empty promises, his frivolousness (Arafat appointed to his cabinet as minister of Jewish affairs an eccentric rabbi well known in Israel as a figure of ridicule) and his mendacity. The author also discusses the burgeoning anti-Arafat sentiment among Arabs, including the Islamic Jihad's 1994 announcement that it is now permissible to assassinate Arafat. An interesting analysis, but Yasser Arafat remains as enigmatic as ever. (May)