Portrait photographique de Yasser Arafat à la suite d'un attentat, datée de 1969, année charnière où il prend la tête de l'O.L.P.

Original photographic portrait of the Arab leader at one of his hideouts in Jordan, taken by reporter Geneviève Chauvel for the French press photography agency Gamma. According to Hubert Henrotte, she was the only photographer Yasser Arafat agreed to meet during that period.

Minor loss to the upper right corner and a few faint folds. Good condition.

On the verso of the photograph appears a contextual note: "Today in Amman, Arab leader Arafat survived an assassination attempt unharmed. July 7th, 1969."

"A short, stocky little man, slightly squeezed into his olive-green uniform, with an expressive face and full, sensual lips beneath a dark moustache. Very bright hazel eyes. A belt adorned with cartridges, of the kind seen on cowboys in Westerns, encircles his hip. With a large automatic pistol on his right hip... Thus Geneviève Chauvel describes him, having interviewed him at one of his hideouts in Jordan. Colourful, bold and cunning, Yasser Arafat invariably wears the white keffiyeh dotted with black and the combat fatigues of the fedayeen. He is never without his weapons — a dagger, a Parabellum, and even a submachine gun."

Miroir de l'Histoire, nos. 274–277, 1973

(our own translation)