Arafat marks 75th birthday with little fanfare

JERUSALEM -- Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat turned 75 yesterday, but there were no birthday parties or parades.

Arafat spent the day as usual -- hunkered down behind sandbags in the shell-pocked compound where he lives and works in the West Bank city of Ramallah. Aides said a few Palestinian officials brought Arafat flowers, but no festivities were planned.

Israel has confined Arafat to his Ramallah headquarters for more than two years, and the Israeli government refuses to deal with him. Palestinians consider Arafat their main symbol of struggle and independence, though many disagree with his autocratic style of rule.

Arafat was born in Cairo on Aug. 4, 1929. As a teenager in the 1948 Mideast war Arafat ran arms and ammunition to his father and brother on the battlefield.

He took up the Palestinian cause in Kuwait in 1958. He has survived more than 50 assassination attempts and numerous military defeats, including being thrown out of Jordan in 1970 and Lebanon in 1982.

He entered peace talks with Israel in 1993, but they failed, and since then, Arafat has led his people in a struggle that has included more than 100 suicide bombings.