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Abed Rabbo: Arafat Was Mischievous with Gaddafi…Syrian Military Had Inherited Animosity Towards Him

Yasser Arafat (R), chairman of Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) shown in file picture dated September 1, 1989. (AFP)
Yasser Arafat (R), chairman of Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) shown in file picture dated September 1, 1989. (AFP)
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Abed Rabbo: Arafat Was Mischievous with Gaddafi…Syrian Military Had Inherited Animosity Towards Him

Yasser Arafat (R), chairman of Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) shown in file picture dated September 1, 1989. (AFP)
Yasser Arafat (R), chairman of Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) shown in file picture dated September 1, 1989. (AFP)

What is happening in the Gaza Strip is closely related to Israel’s ongoing injustice, mainly the insistence of Israel’s successive governments on avoiding peace obligations. This injustice exacerbated after the late Palestinian President Yasser Arafat signed the Oslo Agreement on September 13, 1993.
Arafat hoped the Oslo agreement to be a first step to the establishment of a Palestinian state on some parts of the land, but Benjamin Netanyahu built his policy on assassinating the agreement. The Oslo Accord is related to what preceded it, mainly the wars of capitals and the complex relationships between the PLO and some prominent Arab countries.
This dialogue with Yasser Abed Rabbo, former Secretary-General of the executive committee of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), is meant to shed light on some events that some born after Oslo did not have the opportunity to experience. Here is the third and final episode:
Asked how Arafat dealt with the 9/11 attacks and about President George Bush’s refusal to shake hands with Arafat at the United Nations headquarters after that.
Abed Rabbo recalled: “It was the result of what the Americans saw as test after test for Yasser Arafat.” For them, Arafat “failed the test in terms of condemning the actions carried out by Hamas and other factions targeting civilians, and because he did not do enough to prevent those actions, and that Yasser Arafat was also complicit to some extent. Their evidence of this is the ‘Karen A’ ship and others.”
“A new situation was created after Bush’s famous statement that the “Palestinian people deserve better than this Palestinian leadership, which is involved in terrorism”... This statement created a situation in which we have actually moved to the stage of complete rupture with the US administration, and complete hostility to the person of Arafat and towards the authority as a whole under his leadership.”
Thorny Relation with Hafez Assad
Relations were not friendly or normal between Yasser Arafat and Hafez Assad.
Yasser Abed Rabbo went to Damascus on a mission after the Syrian military intervention in Lebanon in 1976 where he met Assad.
He was asked: What did Assad tell you? Abed Rabbo replied: “There was a military clash in Sidon (southern Lebanon), and also some clashes and skirmishes in the Sawfar region (Mount Lebanon) and elsewhere. The situation became tense and an armed confrontation erupted between us and them (the Syrians), so the leadership in Beirut decided not to engage in the clash at this stage.”
"I believe that several countries, including the Gulf states particularly Saudi Arabia, stepped in to stop the conflict and contain the situation. The Syrians therefore agreed to receive our delegation to meet President Assad. I went there with Faoruk al-Qaddoumi. He was the Foreign Minister, and he is of course the head of the delegation. We met with President Assad”.
Abed Rabbo added that Assad was frowning and looked angry when he first entered the room. “He immediately surprised us and said: “What are you doing?...You cut off the heads of the Syrians who entered Sidon and played football with them in the streets.””
Abed Rabbo noted that he made sure to explain to Assad that the situation was a serious misunderstanding, and that no Syrian soldiers were hurt.
“...It was a miserable military failure”, Abed Rabbo told Assad “Is it reasonable for us to take Syrian prisoners?
“I confronted (Assad’s words) and said to him: Mr. President, how are these words possible? Firstly, it is shameful for anyone to use the term prisoners. Syrian soldiers are not prisoners. There was a mistake made by a commander and he found himself (lost) in Sidon. The militia members in Sidon saw tanks that they did not know for whom they belonged. A confrontation erupted but fortunately no one was injured by the gunfire. The forty soldiers are well and there were no beheadings. He (Assad) replied: By God, these are the reports I received. Are they writing false reports for me?
I said: Please make sure. There was no one injured... Let them send someone to get them back. We don’t know to whom we shall send them”.
Arafat Not a Fan of Expanding the War in Lebanon
On accusations that Arafat incited Kamal Jumblatt to take the war to the Mountain area, Abed Rabbo said: “Honestly, never. I believe that Kamal Jumblatt wanted the Palestinian resistance with all its forces to expand the front to the Mountain... He requested Fatah's participation in the process.”
But “Fatah did not participate, and if it did, it did so in a symbolic way...I am confident that it was not his (Arafat) plan to go to the mountain or turn to Bikfaya from the side of Dhour El-Shwair, as others had expected.”
Abed Rabbo added that “no one could ever go to the Mountain area and Aley” except with the consent of the socialist party.
Cruelty against Arafat is Inherent in Syria
Asked if Chief of staff of the Syrian Army General Hikmat al-Shehabi was very harsh to Arafat, Abed Rabbo said: “It seemed inherited among the leadership of the Syrian army. Mustafa Tlas did not like Yasser Arafat. Sometimes in some of his speeches he was extremely obscene and insulted him with vulgar and cheap insults. Hikmat Al-Shehabi could not stand the name Arafat at all. He was open about it to us.”
Asked about Sabri al-Banna (Abou Nidal), Abed Rabbo said: “He is extremely narcissistic, proud of himself and highly suspicious...he is quick to accuse... he doesn’t make you feel comfortable. At other times it is as if he had a real split personality, you find him calm and sociable.
“Abou Nidal immersed himself deeply in Palestinian blood, mainly during the Syrian-Palestinian rapprochement after the October war, and the emergence of the peace project and the PLO's Ten Point Program. It was the first seed of accepting the notion of a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza.
This was a warning bell for the Iraqis. They started working against the PLO and Fatah. They resorted to assassinations. They assassinated the ambassador in Kuwait and in Paris and in many other places”.
Gaddafi and Arafat’s Charisma
Asked whether an understanding was difficult between Arafat and Gaddafi, Abed Rabbo said: “It was difficult and easy. Gaddafi used to welcome Arafat warmly and friendly...Yasser Arafat dared to speak harshly to him, and even reprimanded him.
Gaddafi used to accept that because “Abou Ammar” considered himself not only older in age but also older in terms of his revolutionary history.
Abou Ammar did not give Gaddafi much importance because he was stingy in supporting Fatah and the PLO.
Arafat was charismatic. He had real charisma that some could not bear. Hafez Assad could not bear it. Ahmed Hasan Bakr could not stand Arafat. Saddam, maybe, felt himself at no competition with anyone because he had the conviction that since his young age he was above all humanity. Gaddafi was also jealous... He had to deal with Arafat with respect.”
Gaza Was Sacred for Arafat
Abed Rabbo met Arafat for the first time during The Battle of Karameh in 1968 in Jordan. It was the battle that gave legitimacy to Fatah and Arafat.
Asked if he misses Arafat today, Abed Rabbo said everyone who knew Arafat misses him and misses his role today.
“He would not have allowed all the circumstances that led to the latest aggression on Gaza,” Abed Rabbo said, adding that if Arafat was still alive he would not have allowed that division between the ranks of the PLO or Hamas’ diversion from the rest of the factions.
“It was not possible for this division to occur within the Palestinian movement and for Hamas to separate from the rest of the factions and the PLO, or for Gaza’s separation from the West Bank.
Gaza was sacred to Yasser Arafat. It was not possible for him to leave Gaza even if Hamas carried out a hundred coups”, he stated.
Abed Rabbo was asked how he left Jordan after the bloody 1970 events, he said: “I left in 1971. We remained in hiding in Amman after it came under the control of the Jordanian army. We then moved to live in the forests in Jerash and Ajloun where all the resistance forces gathered and (were subjected to shelling).
The meeting of the Palestine National Council was held in July or August. We, Abou Jihad (Khalil al-Wazir) and I, were asked to leave for Cairo to attend the meeting. We left under Arab protection and the forests of Jerash and Ajloun were swept after we left”.

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'I Can't Walk Anymore': Afghans Freeze to Death on Route to Iran

Gul Ahmad (center) along with his deceased stepbrother Habibullah's son Waheed (right) and Saeed offering prayers over his grave in Ghunjan. Mohsen KARIMI / AFP
Gul Ahmad (center) along with his deceased stepbrother Habibullah's son Waheed (right) and Saeed offering prayers over his grave in Ghunjan. Mohsen KARIMI / AFP
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'I Can't Walk Anymore': Afghans Freeze to Death on Route to Iran

Gul Ahmad (center) along with his deceased stepbrother Habibullah's son Waheed (right) and Saeed offering prayers over his grave in Ghunjan. Mohsen KARIMI / AFP
Gul Ahmad (center) along with his deceased stepbrother Habibullah's son Waheed (right) and Saeed offering prayers over his grave in Ghunjan. Mohsen KARIMI / AFP

Habibullah set off from his home in western Afghanistan determined to find work in Iran, only for the 15-year-old to freeze to death while walking across the mountainous frontier.

"He was forced to go, to bring food for the family," his mother, Mah Jan, told AFP at her mud home in Ghunjan village.

"We have no food to eat, we have no clothes to wear. The house in which I live has no electricity, no water. I have no proper window, nothing to burn for heating," she added, clutching a photo of her son.

Habibullah was one of at least 18 migrants who died last month while trying to cross illegally into Iran from Afghanistan's Herat province, according to officials, when temperatures were around -3C.

With earthquakes and drought compounding a daily struggle to survive in Afghanistan, around half the population will need humanitarian assistance this year, according to the United Nations.

"There was no other way left for me. I thought, let him go to make our life better," said Mah Jan, 50, who requested the family's surname not be published for privacy reasons.

Habibullah's stepbrother, Gul Ahmad, said the teenager had tried shoe polishing but only earned up to 15 afghanis (23 cents) per day.

"He was ready to be a shepherd for 2,000 afghanis ($30 a month), to work in a shop, but he found nothing. So he was forced to leave. He told his mother, 'Let's trust in God, I'm going to Iran'," said Gul Ahmad, 56.

Habibullah was among 15 bodies returned from Iran, an Afghan border source told AFP on condition of anonymity.

A further three migrants who died were recovered on the Afghan side of the frontier, an army official said.

Over just a matter of days last month, around 1,600 Afghan migrants "who were at risk of perishing due to the weather" were rescued in the mountains, according to Iranian border guard commander Majid Shoja, quoted by the ILNA news agency.

They are drawn to Iran due to greater job opportunities and a common language, but legal routes are limited.

Afghanistan's deputy minister for labor and social affairs, Abdul Manan Omari, said Sunday it was "necessary to do more" to facilitate work permits for migrants.

Iran and Pakistan have combined sent back five million Afghans since September 2023, increasing the country's population by 10 percent, according to the International Organization for Migration.

The agency's deputy head in Afghanistan, Mutya Izora Maskun, said that many in the country report "the economy, job insecurity, food insecurity, constrained access to services" force them to leave.

They do so even if that means going through "illegal crossing points that are very dangerous due to the cold and the risks of human trafficking", she told AFP.

The Taliban government has taken "serious steps to fight the smugglers", interior ministry spokesman Abdul Mateen Qani told AFP.

But attempts to reach Iran have not stopped.

In the last week of December, "347 people who were trying to illegally cross the border into Iran were identified and arrested", a military unit in western Afghanistan said in a statement on Saturday.

Abdul Majeed Haidari, whose one-year-old son suffers from a heart problem, tried his luck in mid-December.

Working at a brick oven, the 25-year-old could no longer afford to pay for his son's medication and family expenses.

"We left because we were so destitute," his stepbrother Yunus, who accompanied him, told AFP.

"We set out in the rain. In such weather, the radars and cameras of the border guards do not work properly. But the smuggler got lost," he said.

They failed to light a fire for warmth and, as snow fell, Yunus recounted his stepbrother's words: "I can't walk anymore."

"Some told us to leave him so as not to endanger the other 19 people in the group," said Yunus, who requested his full name not be used.

After carrying him for two more hours, "his eyes stopped closing, his body grew heavier," Yunus recalled, before an Iranian family drove past and took them to hospital.

"They gave him electric shocks, but they said he was already dead," said Yunus, who has since returned to his village.

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US Strike on Venezuela to Embolden China’s Territorial Claims, Taiwan Attack Unlikely, Analysts Say

03 January 2026, Argentina, Buenos Aires: Venezuelans gather at the obelisk in Buenos Aires to celebrate the US military operation in their country. (dpa)
03 January 2026, Argentina, Buenos Aires: Venezuelans gather at the obelisk in Buenos Aires to celebrate the US military operation in their country. (dpa)
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US Strike on Venezuela to Embolden China’s Territorial Claims, Taiwan Attack Unlikely, Analysts Say

03 January 2026, Argentina, Buenos Aires: Venezuelans gather at the obelisk in Buenos Aires to celebrate the US military operation in their country. (dpa)
03 January 2026, Argentina, Buenos Aires: Venezuelans gather at the obelisk in Buenos Aires to celebrate the US military operation in their country. (dpa)

The US attack on Venezuela will embolden China to strengthen its territorial claims over areas such as Taiwan and parts of the South China Sea but will not hasten any potential invasion of Taiwan, analysts said.

Chinese President Xi Jinping's considerations about Taiwan and his timeline are separate from the situation in Latin America, influenced more by China's domestic situation than by US actions, they said.

Still, analysts said, President Donald Trump's audacious attack on Saturday, capturing Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, hands China an unexpected opportunity that Beijing will likely use in the near term to amplify criticism of Washington and bolster its own standing on the international stage.

Further out, Beijing could leverage Trump's move to defend its stance against the US on territorial issues including Taiwan, Tibet and islands in the East and South China seas.

'CHEAP AMMUNITION' FOR A CHINA PUSHBACK

"Washington's consistent, long-standing arguments are always that the Chinese actions are violating international law but they are now damaging that," said William Yang, an analyst at International Crisis Group, a Brussels-based ‌NGO.

"It's really creating a ‌lot of openings and cheap ammunition for the Chinese to push back against the ‌US ⁠in the future."

China ‌claims democratically governed Taiwan as its own province - an assertion the island's government rejects - and claims almost all of the South China Sea, a position that puts it at odds with several Southeast Asian nations that also claim parts of the vital trade route.

China's foreign ministry and Taiwan Affairs Office, and Taiwan's presidential office did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Beijing condemned Trump's strike on Venezuela, saying it violated international law and threatened peace and security in Latin America. It has demanded the US release Maduro and his wife, who are being detained in New York awaiting trial.

Hours before his capture, Maduro met with a high-level Chinese delegation in Caracas, according to photos he posted on his Instagram page.

The Chinese foreign ministry did not ⁠immediately respond to a request for comment on the whereabouts of the delegation, which included China's special representative for Latin American and Caribbean affairs, Qiu Xiaoqi.

On Sunday China's official Xinhua news ‌agency called the US attack "naked hegemonic behavior."

"The US invasion has made everyone see more ‍and more the fact that the so-called 'rules-based international order' in the mouth ‍of the United States is actually just a 'predatory order based on US interests'," state-run Xinhua news agency said.

'CHINA ISN'T THE U.S., ‍TAIWAN ISN'T VENEZUELA'

Taiwan, in particular, has been facing growing pressure from Beijing. China last week encircled the island in its most extensive war games to date, showcasing Beijing's ability to cut off the island from outside support in a conflict.

But analysts said they did not expect China to capitalize on the Venezuelan situation to escalate that into an attack anytime soon.

"Taking over Taiwan depends on China's developing but still insufficient capability rather than what Trump did in a distant continent," said Shi Yinhong, professor of international relations at Renmin University in Beijing.

Neil Thomas, a fellow on Chinese politics at the Asia Society, said China sees Taiwan as an internal affair and so was unlikely to cite ⁠US actions against Venezuela as precedent for any cross-strait military strikes.

"Beijing will want a clear contrast with Washington to trumpet its claims to stand for peace, development and moral leadership," Thomas said. "Xi does not care about Venezuela more than he cares about China. He'll be hoping that it turns into a quagmire for the United States."

Wang Ting-yu, a senior lawmaker from Taiwan’s ruling party who sits on the parliament’s foreign affairs and defense committee, rejected the idea that China might follow the US example and strike Taiwan.

"China has never lacked hostility toward Taiwan, but it genuinely lacks the feasible means," Wang posted on Facebook. "China is not the United States, and Taiwan is certainly not Venezuela. If China could actually pull it off, it would have done so long ago!"

Still, the situation amplifies risks for Taiwan and could press Taipei to seek more favor from the Trump administration, some observers said.

On China's Weibo social media platform, discussions of the US attack trended heavily on Sunday, with several users saying Beijing should learn from what Trump did.

Lev Nachman, a political science professor at National Taiwan University, said he expected Taiwan's government to express lightly worded support for American ‌action on Venezuela. Taiwan has not yet made any statement.

"What I do think Trump's actions could do is to help Xi Jinping's narrative in the future to create more justification for action against Taiwan," he said.

Features

International Aid Groups Grapple with What Israel’s Ban Will Mean for Their Work in Gaza

The first supermoon of the year, the "Wolf Moon," is seen rising over Bureij refugee camp, in the central Gaza Strip on January 3, 2026. (AFP)
The first supermoon of the year, the "Wolf Moon," is seen rising over Bureij refugee camp, in the central Gaza Strip on January 3, 2026. (AFP)
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International Aid Groups Grapple with What Israel’s Ban Will Mean for Their Work in Gaza

The first supermoon of the year, the "Wolf Moon," is seen rising over Bureij refugee camp, in the central Gaza Strip on January 3, 2026. (AFP)
The first supermoon of the year, the "Wolf Moon," is seen rising over Bureij refugee camp, in the central Gaza Strip on January 3, 2026. (AFP)

Israel’s decision to revoke the licenses of more than three dozen humanitarian organizations this week has aid groups scrambling to grapple with what this means for their operations in Gaza and their ability to help tens of thousands of struggling Palestinians.

The 37 groups represent some of the most prominent of the more than 100 independent nongovernmental organizations working in Gaza, alongside United Nations agencies. Those banned include Doctors Without Borders, the Norwegian Refugee Council, Oxfam and Medical Aid for Palestinians.

The groups do everything from providing tents and water to supporting clinics and medical facilities. The overall impact, however, remains unclear.

The most immediate impact of the license revocation is that Israel will no longer allow the groups to bring supplies into the Gaza Strip or send international staffers into the territory. Israel says all suspended groups have to halt their operations by March 1.

Some groups have already been barred from bringing in aid. The Norwegian Refugee Council, for example, said it has not been allowed to bring in supplies in 10 months, leaving it distributing tents and aid brought in by other groups.

Israel says the banned groups make up only a small part of aid operations in Gaza.

But aid officials say they fulfill crucial specific functions. In a joint statement Tuesday, the UN and leading NGOs said the organizations that are still licensed by Israel “are nowhere near the number required just to meet immediate and basic needs” in Gaza.

The ban further strains aid operations even as Gaza’s over 2 million Palestinians still face a humanitarian crisis more than 12 weeks into a ceasefire. The UN says that although famine has been staved off, more than a quarter of families still eat only one meal a day and food prices remain out of reach for many; more than 1 million people need better tents as winter storms lash the territory.

Why were their licenses revoked?

Earlier this year, Israel introduced strict new registration requirements for aid agencies working in Gaza. Most notably, it required groups to provide the names and personal details of local and international staff and said it would ban groups for a long list of criticisms of Israel.

The registration process is overseen by Israel’s Ministry for Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism, led by a far-right member of the ruling Likud party.

Israel says the rules aim to prevent Hamas and other fighters from infiltrating the groups, something it has said was happening throughout the 2-year-old war. The UN, which leads the massive aid program in Gaza, and independent groups deny the allegations and Israeli claims of major diversion of aid supplies by Hamas.

Aid organizations say they did not comply, in part, because they feared that handing over staff information could endanger them. More than 500 aid workers have been killed in Gaza during the war, according to the United Nations.

Israel denies targeting aid workers. But the group say Israel has been vague about how it would use the data.

The groups also said Israel was vague about how it would use the data.

“Demanding staff lists as a condition for access to territory is an outrageous overreach,” Doctors Without Borders, known by its French acronym MSF, said Friday. It said Israeli officials had refused its attempts to find alternatives.

A December report on MSF issued by an Israeli government team recommended rejection of the group’s license. It pointed primarily to statements by the group criticizing Israel, including referring to its campaign in Gaza as genocide and calling its monthslong ban on food entering the territory earlier this year as “a starvation tactic.” It said the statements violated neutrality and constituted “delegitimization of Israel.”

The report also repeated claims that an MSF employee killed in by an Israeli airstrike in 2024 was an operative with the Islamic Jihad group. That, it said, suggested MSF “maintains connections with a terrorist group.”

MSF on Friday denied the allegations, saying it would “never knowingly employ anyone involved in military activities.” It said that its statements cited by Israel simply described the destruction its teams witnessed in Gaza.

“The fault lies with those committing these atrocities, not with those who speak of them,” it said.

Aid groups have a week from Dec. 31 to appeal the process.

Medical services could see biggest impact

Independent NGOs play a major role in propping up Gaza’s health sector, devastated by two years of Israeli bombardment and restrictions on supplies.

MSF said Israel’s decision would have a catastrophic impact on its work in Gaza, where it provides funding and international staff for six hospitals as well as running two field hospitals and eight primary health centers, clinics and medical points. It also runs two of Gaza’s five stabilization centers helping children with severe malnutrition.

Its teams treated 100,000 trauma cases, performed surgeries on 10,000 patients and handled a third of Gaza’s births, the group says. It has 60 international staffers in the West Bank and Gaza and more than 1,200 local staff — most medical professionals.

Since the ceasefire began in early October, MSF has brought in about 7% of the 2,239 tons (2,032 metric tons) of medical supplies that Israel has allowed into Gaza, according to a UN tracking dashboard. That makes it the largest provider of medical supplies after UN agencies and the Red Cross, according to the dashboard.

Medecins du Monde, another group whose license is being halted, runs another four primary health clinics.

Overburdened Palestinian staff

Aid groups say the most immediate impact will likely be the inability to send international staff into Gaza.

Foreign staff provide key technical expertise and emotional support for their Palestinian colleagues.

“Having international presence in Gaza is a morale booster for our staff who are already feeling isolated,” said Shaina Low, communications adviser for the Norwegian Refugee Council, which is one of the main NGOs providing shelter supplies and fresh water to displaced people.

NRC has roughly 30 international staff who rotate in and out of Gaza working alongside some 70 Palestinians.

While any operations by the 37 groups in the West Bank will likely remain open, those with offices in east Jerusalem, which Israel considers its territory, might have to close.

Halt on supplies

Many of the 37 groups already had been blocked from bringing supplies into Gaza since March, said Bushra Khalidi, Oxfam's policy lead for Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories.

What changes with the formal license revocation is “that these practices are now formalized, giving Israel full impunity to restrict operations and shut out organizations it disagrees with,” she said.

Some of the groups have turned to buying supplies within Gaza rather than bringing them in, but that is slower and more expensive, she said. Other groups dug into reserve stocks, pared down distribution and had to work with broken or heavily repaired equipment because they couldn’t bring in new ones.

Amed Khan, an American humanitarian philanthropist who has been privately donating medicine and emergency nutrition for children to Gaza, said the impact extends beyond the aid groups.

He relies on NGOs to receive and distribute the supplies, but the fewer groups that Israel approves, the harder it is to find one.

“It’s death by bureaucracy,” he said.