The passing of Yasser Arafat last November marked the end of an era in the Palestinian movement. With this event the American and Israeli regimes revamped their ideological offensive—pulling out a tried and tested method—declaring the “chances for peace” once again within grasp. Having allowed himself to be made a “statesman” by Oslo, Arafat, in the years preceding his death, was recreated into a dictator and a terrorist. Israel and the U.S. insisted—against all evidence—that Arafat was the instigator of the second Intifada exactly to cover up the rebellion’s democratic challenge to the tyranny of their own regimes and of the Palestinian Authority. At the same time hundreds of thousands attended the return of Arafat’s body to Ramallah. As tens of thousands crowded the landing helicopters it was evident from the signs of genuine anguish and defiance that Arafat’s passing represented a collective historical and tragic experience of a movement for freedom. Clearly behind every great historical personality is an epic movement of millions.