[MEDIA MONITOR
Arafat's 'Air Show'
Tries To Boost Image
GARY ROSENBLATT
Editor
assir Arafat is clearly
on a media blitz to en-
hance his image in
the United States. First he
granted Time magazine more
than eight hours for an inter-
view and made the cover of
the Dec. 26 issue, posing coy-
ly with smiling face on fold-
ed hands. Now comes a
revealing portrait of Arafat's
frenetic daily life in the
February issue of Vanity Fair
by T.D. Allman, who spent 40
hours flying around on the
PLO leader's private jet, stop-
ping in four countries.
Why did Arafat permit All-
man to question him for
hours and shadow him for
days, Allman asks during the
trip? "Peace," the chairman
answers. "I am challenging
Israel to peace! I do not ask
them to believe me. I ask
them to test me."
Reading Allman's account
of Arafat's seemingly super-
human stamina and single-
minded devotion to the cause
of Palestinian statehood may
test a reader's endurance. The
writer, who was given 10 min-
utes notice before the trip,
describes the PLO leader in
gushing terms throughout
the account, remarking on
the chairman's selfless,
tireless devotion to his goal,
his lack of personal posses-
sions, his ability to perform
seemingly dozens of tasks at
once, the loyalty and devotion
he inspires in so many people.
There is only one fleeting
mention of the PLO's ter-
rorist activities, for this is not
a political article but an effort
to provide a psychological
profile.
Successful or not, the arti-
cle provides a unique glimp-
se of Arafat the man, from his
appearance (he doesn't shave
becaiise he says he doesn't
have 15 minutes a day to
waste) to his rare attempts at
relaxation ("I love watching
cartoons: Bugs Bunny, Road-
runner, especially Tom and
Jerry — it's so much fun the
way the mouse outsmarts the
cat").
Based in Tunis, Arafat stays
on the move, making travel
decisions with minimal ad-
vance planning, primarily for
security reasons. "Unpredic-
tability is how he stays alive,"
explains one PLO aide who
travels with the chairman.
"You can't kill a man if you
never know exactly where to
find him."
One extra precaution that
y
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Arafat: On the endless road.
Arafat takes is that he always
travels with a security man
who is a pilot. This is to
thwart any attempts at hi-
jacking his personal jet,
which is filled with weapons
and explosives. Allman
describes the plane as "a fly-
ing bomb," and Arafat assures
him that "I will never, under
any circumstances, be taken
Arafat is spending most of
his time of late visiting vir-
tually every Arab state — ex-
cept Syria, his enemy — and
African country, indeed as
many nations as possible that
have recognized the PLO as a
personal way of thanking
their heads of state. As
Allman notes, whether they
are influential or virtually
unheard of, they each have a
vote at the United Nations.
During the 40-hour odyssey,
Arafat flew to Fez, Morocco,
where he met with King Has-
san II, arriving in the middle
of the night. The next day it
was off to Mauritania, one of
the least-visited nations on
earth, for a two-hour and 11
minute stop, including a
meeting with the president.
Then it was back to Fez and
on to Algiers.
Allman describes Arafat as
a man who rarely sleeps, run-
ning the PLO via aides,
phones, and fax machines
that are always at his side.
One must always maintain
"constant spiritual contact"
with one's troops, Arafat says.
As for his message to
American Jewry, Arafat says
he would ask them to save the
spirit of Judaism. "I would
say, 'Think of the future of
Judaism. Then do what you
think best to ensure the
future of Jewish values.' " He
asserts that American Jews
have spoiled Israel, turning