THE MIND OF YASSER ARAFAT

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000100110160-5
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 21, 2011
• Sequence Number: 160
• Publication Date: January 9, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified and Approved For Release 2011/12/21 :CIA-RDP90-009658000100110160-5
~C 11~.
WASHINGTON POST
9 January 1986
JACK ANDERSON and JOSEPH SPEAR
The Mind of Yasser Arafat
he hope for peace in the Middle Last rests
heavily on an Arab leader who, like a desert
mirage, is more apparition than substance. He
is the ubiquitous Yasser Arafat, a leader with few
followers, a spokesman without answers, who can't
even control the Palestine Liberation Organization
that he purports to head.
[ rtelli once anal sts have examined the man
behind the scra?Qly ar an ave come uo with ~
drsturbmA psvcholoArcal profile. He is described as
a "moderate, not steeped in one particular
ideology," whose voice is drowned out by the
obstreperous voices in the PLO's high council.
Unsurpassed at subterranean diplomacy, he
resorts. to subversion and terrorism when he thinks
it is necessary to maintain his leadership. "He will
seek ways in which others can do his dirty work
..," the analysis s