There is a vast amount of material on the Internet relating to Yasser Arafat, and even more relating to the situation in the Middle East. These links have been chosen because they focus on Arafat, rather than being sites of general relevance to the Middle East. Their use needs careful consideration in terms of:

• the depth of information they contain
• the range of insights published in them
• the ability to communicate with experts and enthusiasts
• the ability to access original archive material
• the potential to use the sites as the basis of really stimulating and imaginative activities

The following sites are recommended because they meet at least some of the criteria listed above.

http://www.abcnews.go.com/reference/bios/arafat.html

This detailed biography of Arafat is helpfully balanced, and demonstrates the different phases of his career well. It also has a number of helpful links to other material providing additional context.

http://www.earlham.edu/~pss/yasser_arafat.htm

This is a fairly heavyweight biography of Yasser Arafat with a helpful chronology as well.

http://www.shamash.org/jb/bk970404/edit.htm

An Internet article from a Jewish American newspaper. It is not as hostile to Arafat as might be expected, but it demonstrates the frustration felt at the time as the peace process in 1997 was meeting serious problems.

http://nobelprizes.com/nobel/peace/1994a.html

This is a somewhat different view of Arafat, although its general tone is one of giving information about Arafat rather than explaining why Arafat won the Prize. The site contains a large number of helpful references and links.

http://www.almaz.com/nobel/wwwboard/messages/371.html

This is the first of a series of exchanges on an Internet discussion board in the wake of Arafat’s receipt of the Nobel Prize. Plenty of interesting viewpoints and opinions!