“He had a permanent chip on his shoulder, an angry undertone that seemed to insist: “We are weak, and you have injured us. We are thus entitled to do whatever we want. No one can judge us or stop us. And you, for your sins, must pay and pay forever.”

— Barry Rubin and Judith Rubin

As the chairman strode to the United Nations podium on Oct. 13, 1974 amidst applause, he must have marvelled at his good fortune. Only a few years prior he was persona non grata. Expelled from Jordan after King Hussein tired of the existential threat the charismatic revolutionary posed to the country and to Hussein’s own throne, the Palestinian leader found only a half-hearted welcome in other Arab capitals. From Riyadh to Cairo, no matter their publicly declared support, other Arab rulers had privately tired of his arrogant assumption they owed him for his frontline attacks against Israel and Jews.