"I have come bearing an olive branch and a freedom fighter's gun. Do not let the olive branch fall from my hand."

-Arafat at United Nations in 1974.

He died many times before his death. But he was not a coward; he was a crusader. He is the father of the symbol of Palestinian nationalism. He dreamt of a Palestinian State, a dream that stayed a dream in his lifetime.

Mohammed Yasser Abdul-Ra'ouf Qudwa Al-Husseini, called Yasser Arafat in short was born to a textile merchant on August 24, 1929. When he was five, he was sent to live with his maternal uncle in Jerusalem, which was then the capital of Palestine under British control.

'Arafat an enduring symbol of Palestinian nationhood'

His strong patriotic convictions might have come from his earliest childhood memories, which involved English soldiers attacking and beating up his family. He moved back to Cairo when he was eight and spent the rest of his childhood there.

As a teenager, Arafat was involved in smuggling arms to Palestine for offences against British soldiers and Jewish settlers. At 19, he left his university to join the fighting in Gaza to resist the creation of a Jewish State.

He later returned to the university and served as the president of the Union of Palestinian Students. Later Arafat became the leader of a military group, Al Fatah and led the armed revolution against Israel.

The Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) was originally created by the Arab league as a part of its war against Israel. Arafat's Fatah became a dominant faction in the organisation. By 1969, Arafat was designated the head of PLO.

After the defeat in the 1973 war, Arafat shifted his strategy from terrorist activities to a diplomatic battle with Israel. This tact merited recognition of PLO by the United Nations. This enhanced the political standing of the movement. Arafat travelled voraciously and gained diplomatic support from many countries including Iraq. After persuasion and assurance by the United States on Israel, Arafat accepted the United Nations Security Council resolution and renounced "terrorism in all forms, including State terrorism".

This marked the beginning of the "peace" in the Palestinian liberation; which originally started off as a militant organisation. This transformation from War to Peace credited a Nobel to the protagonist of the story.