英文：

Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat, 75, the leader who passionately sought a homeland for his people but was seen by many Israelis as a ruthless terrorist and a roadblock to peace, died early Thursday in Paris.

"The last two days were very painful, very difficult days," said chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat, who confirmed Arafat's death Thursday morning. "And now, after these painful days of President Arafat, he is dead."

Arafat had been sick with an unknown illness that had been variously described as the flu, a stomach virus or gallstones. He flew to Paris October 29 seeking medical treatment and was hospitalized with what Palestinian officials said was a blood disorder.

Arafat's body will be taken from France to Cairo, where the Egyptian government will host a state funeral for him, Erakat said. He will be buried outside the Palestinian Authority headquarters compound in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

Arafat's family had wanted him buried in Jerusalem, but the Israeli government forbade that.

"Jerusalem is the city where Jewish kings are buried, and not Arab terrorists," Israeli Justice Minister Yosef Lapid said last week.

Erakat vowed that the grave in Ramallah would be temporary.

"One day, we will have our own independent state with east Jerusalem as its capital," he said.

Erakat called it "heartbreaking" that Arafat died before achieving his goal of an independent Palestinian state, "and the Israeli occupation of our land has not finished yet." But he said Arafat managed to preserve Palestinian national identity during decades without statehood.

For five decades, Arafat -- adorned with his trademark checkered kaffiyeh -- was the most prominent face of Palestinian opposition to Israel and the push for a Palestinian state, first as the head of the Palestine Liberation Organization, which carried out attacks against Israeli targets, and later as the leader of the quasi-governmental Palestinian Authority after parts of the West Bank and Gaza were returned to Palestinian control.

Arafat was first elected head of the PLO in 1969, and by 1974, Arab leaders recognized the group as "the sole legitimate representative" of the Palestinian people.

In 1994, Arafat was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, along with Israeli leaders Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres, for their work on the Oslo accords, seen at the time as a breakthrough toward an independent Palestinian state and a permanent peace with Israel. Yet a decade later, Arafat died without seeing his dream of a Palestinian homeland come true.

中文：
75岁的巴勒斯坦民族权力机构主席阿拉法特于本周四（11月11日）凌晨逝世。他用满腔热血为巴勒斯坦人民寻找一个家园，但很多以色列人却把他视为冷酷无情的恐怖分子和通往和平的路障。

巴勒斯坦谈判代表赛义卜·埃雷卡特在周二早上证实了阿拉法特死亡的消息，他说：“（阿拉法特）最后的两天非常痛苦、非常艰难。现在，阿拉法特在经历了这一段痛苦的日子后，与世长辞了。”

阿拉法特一直身患某种不知名的疾病，关于他的症状有多种描述：流感、胃病毒感染和胆结石等。10月29日，阿翁飞往巴黎求医，接受巴勒斯坦官员所说的血液病治疗。

埃雷卡特说，阿拉法特的遗体将从巴黎运往开罗，埃及政府将在那里为他举行国葬。他将被葬在拉马拉“西岸”的巴勒斯坦民族权力机构总部大楼外面。

阿拉法特的家人希望他能被葬在耶路撒冷，但以色列政府不同意那样做。

以色列司法部部长约瑟夫·拉皮德上周表示：“耶路撒冷是（历代）犹太国王安息的城市，而不是为阿拉伯恐怖分子准备的。”

埃雷卡特庄严承诺，位于拉马拉的墓穴只是临时性的。

他说：“总有一天，我们将会拥有我们自己独立的国家，而它的首都就是东方的耶路撒冷。”

埃雷卡特说，阿拉法特在实现巴勒斯坦独立的目标之前就去世了，这是“令人心碎的”，“以色列仍然占领着我们的土地”。但他说，几十年来，尽管没有获得一个国家应有的地位，阿拉法特还是设法维护了巴勒斯坦民族的身份。

50年来，戴着标志性的方格子头巾的阿拉法特是巴以冲突和巴勒斯坦建国运动中的最引人注目的面孔。阿拉法特最早是袭击以色列目标的巴勒斯坦解放组织的领袖，后来西岸和加沙的部分地区重归巴勒斯坦控制后，阿拉法特成为半官方的巴勒斯坦民族权利机构领导人。

1969年，阿拉法特被选举为巴勒斯坦解放组织的领袖。到了1974年，阿拉伯领导人重组了这一组织，使之成为巴勒斯坦人民“唯一的合法代表”。

1994年，阿拉法特和以色列领导人伊扎克·拉宾和希蒙·佩雷斯共同获得了诺贝尔奖，他们为签署“奥斯陆协议”所做的努力在当时被视作通往一个独立的巴勒斯坦国、实现巴以永久和平的“重大突破”。然而10年后，阿拉法特没来得及看到自己的建国梦想成为现实，就永远离开了人世。

词汇：
checkered: divided into squares（分成方格的，棋盘状的）

kaffiyeh: a cloth headdress fastened by a band around the crown and usually worn by Arab men（阿拉伯男子戴的一种布制头巾，用头箍绑牢在头顶部位）

quasi-governmental : 半政府的，半官方的

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