He sits like a schoolteacher, peering through thick glasses at documents on a lectern, occasionally marking them with a red pen before passing them to an aide.
Palestinian President Yasser Arafat looks old and frail in his office in the Muqata in Ramallah, one of the few remaining buildings of the Palestinian government compound.
He reels off dates and events as he demonstrates why he believes the Israeli government, in spite of its claims, is not serious about peace, and he begs for international monitors to prevent the region falling back into futile violence.
"They are not complying with the agreement," he says. "Still they are escalating their military aggression against our people ... the siege around cities and towns in the West Bank and Gaza and the building of the wall around Jerusalem."
Sitting with his gun within reach, Arafat expounds on the dubious character of the Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, but he only loses his cool momentarily on the subject of Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas.
No grandeur
The office of the chairman, or president, of the Palestinian Authority itself is not much bigger than that of the average headteacher. The other buildings in the compound were destroyed by the Israeli army during two sieges last year. The compound is full of rubble and wrecked cars bulldozed into makeshift barriers.
To get to the seat of Arafat's power, you pass through a sandbagged entrance and walk through a narrow corridor, up a stairwell past dozens of Palestinian soldiers.
Next to the waiting room are two small bedrooms, each with two beds. They look like bodyguards' or servants' rooms, but one of them has been Arafat's bedroom for more than a year.
On his desk, some 10m from his bedroom, Arafat has notepaper, a plate of biscuits, and an ornamental bird made of glass from Hebron. Lying on the floor behind his chair is the only hint of his revolutionary past -- a machine pistol wrapped in its holster and a belt. It is difficult to imagine him aiming it effectively now.
He raises a map of the West Bank which shows the projected route of the Israeli security fence, cutting Palestinian areas into separate zones.
"I have visited all Africa and the cantons in Africa," he says, likening the Israeli plans to apartheid South Africa's bantustans.
"We have to compare it with what we are facing here. We are in prisons; not me personally, but all our people everywhere. Fifty-eight percent of the West Bank will be confiscated. How can this be accepted by the international community?" he said.
Arafat speaks clearly in English, looking directly at his questioner. However, questions are generally ignored, and he continues with what he wants to say. He often returns to subjects he had finished with as he thinks of some new example of Israeli perfidy and injustice, prefacing each point with either, "For your information ..." or "Not to forget ..."
He is particularly annoyed by the lack of support for Palestinians from the international community and the lack of pressure on the Israelis.
He recalls the international outcry against the Taliban when it blew up statues of the Buddha in Afghanistan, and then produces a picture of a statue of the Virgin Mary in Bethlehem which was damaged by Israeli fire last year.
"This is a holy statue for the Christians and the Muslims. Saint Mary is the only woman in our Koran. Look: 13 shots, and not one voice is heard. Who can accept this?" he said.
He is angered by the recent revelation that the Israeli police were taking tourists to visit what Jews call the Temple Mount and Muslims call the Haram al-Sharif in Jerusalem.
Fundamentalist Jews believe that Israel should demolish the mosques on the Temple Mount, one of which is the third most holy site in Islam, and rebuild the Jewish temple which was destroyed by the Romans in the first century AD.
"Look at what is happening to our mosque in Jerusalem," he said. "In the last months they have been pushing these fanatic groups in under the name of tourism, under the protection of the police.
"They are not tourists but the fanatic groups, who want to rebuild the temple on the site of the mosque. Three days ago they entered with their maps under the protection of the police," he said.
Sharon was in London earlier this month, asking that the international community strengthen Israel's physical isolation of Arafat with diplomatic isolation.
When asked whether Sharon could be seen as a man of peace, Arafat lists crimes of which he has been accused and allegations of his dishonesty.
First 1982: "Not to forget: after we left Beirut, with the agreement of the Americans, what did he do? The massacre of Sabra and Shatila," he said.
And 1973: "And, for your information -- and you can ask the Israelis about it -- he is the only general in their army to kill the prisoners of war who were taken in the Sinai from the Egyptians," he said.
And 1957: "Not only that -- and this is historical -- he was behind the massacre of Khan Yunis," he said.
Arafat appears more comfortable talking about history than the present situation. However, he believes that the current Palestinian ceasefire offers a small window of opportunity for progress, which could be easily missed. The few commitments Israel has undertaken, he says, Sharon has failed to carry through.
"He speaks about settlements that have been removed," Arafat says. "It has been declared in the Israeli media -- where one caravan has been removed, six have taken its place."
No problems allowed
He speaks about Sharon in an even voice, but when asked about his relationship with Abbas -- also known as Abu Mazen -- who threatened to resign last week, he grimaces and appears impatient.
"There was no problem between him and me. It was only in our Fatah central committee," he said. "Anyway, it has been dealt with."
It was impossible that there could be any problem between him and his prime minister, he added.
"There is no problem, because it is written in our Constitution," he said.
On the proposed road map to peace, Arafat makes clear that he wants the process to be internationalized.
"We are asking for a quick move from the Quartet (the US, EU, UN and Russia) and an international presence through their observers ...What is happening is completely against the road map," he said.
"We are at July 15. After July is August, when all the Americans and Europeans will be on holiday. In September it is the beginning of the Jewish feasts. After that, October and November, and then it is the start of the American elections," he said.
"This means we have a very short time. Without a great and strong and quick push from the Quartet, and especially the Americans, I don't know how there will be an implementation of the road map," he said.
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