Yasser Arafat,

[London_m]

Palestinian Orphans Grieve “Father” Arafat

GAZA CITY, November 11 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – For tens of Palestinian orphans Yasser Arafat was not only the president of the Palestinian people, but more importantly their "father".

Without ever signing official adoption papers, the veteran leader adopted, brought up and indulged at least 66 children, most of them left parentless after the massacres of the Palestinian camps of Tall Zaatar, and Sabra and Chatilla, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

The 75-year-old Palestinian leader was officially declared dead on Thursday, November 11.

For those orphans and hundreds others, Arafat’s demise was a very personal torment, as they look back on a blissful childhood.

"It was beautiful. I have very sweet memories," said Ahmed Ramzi Khadura, who became an Arafat "son" after being separated from his natural father, who lives in Lebanon with 12 other kids. But he would never swap him for Arafat.

"We speak on the phone, but I don't know what he looks like. My mother died. Abu Ammar (Arafat) is my real father and I'm very proud to have the president as my father," said the good-looking, well-dressed 27-year-old.

Educated at special schools and living en masse, the children moved from Lebanon to Syria, to Tunis, before returning to the Gaza Strip when Arafat returned after decades in exile.

"I remember him particularly at Eid, when he'd come to the house. We'd crowd round him and badger him about how much money he was giving us, then he'd give us presents," said Zubeida al-Khatib, at 27 happily married and endlessly patient with her boisterous three children.

"It was very much a father-daughter relationship... Bananas were expensive in Tunis, but we never went without bananas or mangos," she said, grinning.

Arafat funded foreign university degrees for the bright -- at least one daughter earned a PhD in France -- paid dowries for his sons, funded foreign trips and covered all living costs of his single offspring.

"He spoiled us. The only time he ever told us off was when we came to Gaza. Tunis was very liberal, so we were shocked by things as they were just after the Intifada. So we cried and asked to leave," said Samaa al-Mahmud.

"One of the nurses called Abu Ammar to explain. Immediately he shouted 'who wants to go back?' No one dared raise even a finger. 'You have to understand one thing,' he said: 'Gaza is our home and you have to get used to it'."

Arafat paid 26-year-old Samaa's rent, electricity, water and food -- between 2,000 (500 dollars) and 3,000 shekels a month -- on top of the 400 dollars she earned for working in his office.

"He was everything to us. Without Abu Ammar we wouldn't have been educated, have grown up. We would have no identity. He was a very warm and very sensitive father. He never let us feel as though we'd missed a family," said Zubeida.

When she failed her high school exams, Arafat personally called the university in the West Bank town of Nablus to find her a place, she said.

"When my husband asked president Arafat for my hand, 'in principal I agree,' he said. 'But be careful, she's my daughter and if you touch her then you touch me. If you make her sad, you make me sad," she quoted him as saying.

The last time Zubeida saw Arafat was four years ago in Ramallah, when she took her first-born child to meet him, family snaps of the occasion in hand.

Of the original 66, two have died, 30 live in the Gaza Strip and five in the West Bank. The rest have moved abroad. The eldest is 31 and the youngest 20.

"We weren't really aware of his political life," said Samaa to the vigorous nodding and smiles of the others.