Yasser Arafat

About Yasser Arafat

Yasser Arafat (1929–2004) was a pivotal Palestinian politician who served as the Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) from 1969 until his death. His historical importance, reflected in his MIT Pantheon HPI Rank of #566, stems primarily from his decades-long role as the central figure in the Palestinian national movement and his involvement in the complex, often violent, struggle for Palestinian self-determination and statehood, including the 1993 Oslo Accords.

In terms of modern digital attention, Arafat demonstrates a significant over-representation relative to his historical ranking. He accrued approximately 1.5 million Wikipedia views in 2025, earning him an Attention Gap score of +4x, indicating four times the attention expected for a figure of his historical stature. This level of interest places him far ahead of comparably ranked politicians like Richard Nixon (#748, 4.1M views) or George H. W. Bush (#788, 4.3M views) when viewed against the historical index, although his individual view count is lower than theirs. He receives significantly more modern attention than many figures deemed far more historically crucial, such as Elizabeth I of England (#14, only 319K views).

Despite this high level of attention, the data suggests a slight cooling in immediate interest, with his 2025 views showing a year-over-year decline of -6.8%. However, short-term momentum within 2025 was positive, with Q1 versus Q3 views increasing by 20%.