RAMALLAH: A museum dedicated to the late Yasser Arafat, including the room where the Palestinian leader spent most of his last years while under Israeli siege, was opened in Ramallah.
Twelve years after his death in Paris at the age of 75, the Yasser Arafat Museum opened its doors, shedding light on the long-time Palestinian leader’s life and offering a glimpse of history.
“People will get the chance to see Yasser Arafat’s legacy and history as a person and a political leader,” museum director Mohammad Halayqa said. He added that the project had been a long time in the making.
On display for the first time are a range of Arafat’s possessions, including the famous sunglasses he wore when addressing the United Nations in 1974, a number of his iconic keffiyehs (scarves), his gun and his Palestinian passport.
The museum also traces a century of Palestinian history, including the Nakba — catastrophe, as Palestinians call the period leading up to and including the 1948 creation of Israel.
