So the survivor of 40 assassination attempts, wars, rebellions, car accidents, a plane crash and a stroke, finally gave in to the demands of death in a hospital bed, hundreds of miles away from the homeland he wished to have. Yasser Arafat died as the most celebrated oxymoron of our time, the president of a government without a country, a stateless statesman. No other man so exemplified the dream of his people for such a long time, as did this bald, thick-waisted, bug-eyed man with scruffy salt-and-pepper beard. His trademark black-and-white checkered kaffiyeh headdress, folded and draped meticulously to describe the shape of Palestine, will remain etched as the most prominent symbol of a liberation struggle, which is yet to come to its successful end.

The world perhaps is not going to see another consummate patriot like Arafat in many years to come. He lived for Palestine, and he died for it as well, slowly and painfully under the watch of a powerful enemy who had restricted his movement. In his last three years, he lived in the fear of assassination and tension of betrayal as the Israeli and the U.S. governments decided to boycott him and attempted to promote alternative leadership to challenge his authority. In the early hours of last Thursday, Yasser Arafat went beyond everything, beyond the love of his friends and challenge of his enemies.

Arafat never smoked, he never drank and he didn't have much time for women. His love for Palestine dominated his life, it encompassed all his passions and emotions, permeating his thoughts and actions. This is a man who traveled 45 countries in one month, on average 10 countries in a week, the peripatetic revolutionary with the bearings of a diplomat. In the speed and force of his personality, he had carved out a national identity for millions of Palestinians.

How is history going to treat him now that he has vanished from the scene? George Bush has already said that he saw an opening for peace in the demise of Yasser Arafat. Israelis also feel the same way, branding him as an obstacle to peace, which could have been achieved long ago, only if he were not so rigid. The Russians have expressed their condolences, but again hoping that the new Palestinian leadership would try to make progress in negotiation with Israel.

But how this perception contradicted with the deportment of a man, who had adopted the name Yasser as a college student, which is Arabic for "easygoing"! The easygoing man proved unassuming when it came to the question of the Palestinian homeland. The self-determination and statehood for the Palestinian people was his obsession, which put him between a hard place and a rock. The USA and Israel criticised him for supporting and tolerating terrorism on one hand. On the other hand, his closest advisers were unwilling to sign a peace agreement with Israel, considering it tantamount to a sellout.

Yasser Arafat must have been the longest-serving revolutionary in the world, who died before the end of his revolution. We have got Fidel Castro, who secured the freedom of his people and then positioned himself as their ruler. Che Guevara was a roaming revolutionary, who took it on him to go from country to country to spread the revolution until he was hunted down in the jungles of Bolivia. But Arafat hovered somewhere in the middle, a revolutionary who never got a country but died a natural death. His state funeral has been held in another country, fate bringing him the full regalia and honour associated with the heads of states.

There is an uncanny iridescence to the destiny of Yasser Arafat similar to the afterglow of a fire that has burned out its life. The sparks will still fly from the embers of his legacy, which has left an indelible mark on the hearts and streets of Palestine and rest of the Arab world. He has finished his earthly journey, escaped the torments of confinement, the worries and tensions of politics and rivalry. Arafat has become Yasser ("easygoing") again.

It is believed that leaders are chosen to turn the pages of history. They stand at the turning points of time and bring the changes embedded in their destiny. Such leaders walk upon the earth and go through the trials and tribulations of ordinary life like anybody else. They are also made of flesh and bones, powered by the steam of breath like locomotives of fate. Yet they accomplish more within the bounds of their earthly lives, inspiring and influencing mere mortals like them, and earn their place in history.

Has Yasser Arafat earned his place in history? The answer is yes, despite the insensitive remarks from the Israeli and US authorities. Arafat's legacy will remain emblazoned in the quest for the Palestinian identity until they are given a homeland. Arafat's legacy will remain emblazoned in the gratitude of the Palestinians once that homeland will be given to them. That legacy has been obvious in the reddened and fluffy faces of millions of Palestinians across the world who wept to mourn the loss of their great leader.

It is an irony that death erases even the most tenacious life. Even the fiery revolutionary like Arafat succumbed to it as he sank deeper into the deepening coma, leaving behind the void of a dream that could not come true in his lifetime. In this manner, the last of the Mohicans has left the world, the last warrior of nationhood and the last passionate patriot, who put his love of Palestine above any other call.

Today, the dead body of Yasser Arafat is going to be buried in a stone coffin in Muqata, the compound of his West Bank headquarters, in a symbolic act of resurgence. His remains will be raised again and buried in Jerusalem, once it becomes the capital of the Palestinian state. Arafat may be gone, but his dream goes on. May be he knew it all along, confident that, with or without him, his dream will endure and come to its logical end. One day he is going to lie in rest on the soil of free Palestine.

The lyrics of a Billie Holiday song goes like this: "Cry no tears, I'm going to cry no tears/Each time that I happen to hear his name/.... 'Cause I'm tired of running around/With just a memory/...I'm going to weep no more/ Till somebody weeps for me". Let us cry no tears for Arafat to mourn his death. He has lived a full life, if not a full dream. Tears are for ordinary folks, not for giants like him.

Mohammad Badrul Ahsan is a banker.