# Yazzer Arafat got the Nobel peace prize? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [March 29, 2011, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yazzer-arafat-got-the-nobel-peace-prize/576380 "2011-03-29T14:20:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![scamartistry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/919ad9/32.png) [@scamartistry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scamartistry)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2011, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yazzer-arafat-got-the-nobel-peace-prize/576380/1 "2011-03-29T14:20:49Z")
Why would anyone give the peace price to the chairman of PLO? To me it sounds like an oxymoron ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2011, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yazzer-arafat-got-the-nobel-peace-prize/576380/2 "2011-03-29T14:23:16Z")
Because of the Oslo agreement. IMHO, it was the right decision at the time. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2011, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yazzer-arafat-got-the-nobel-peace-prize/576380/3 "2011-03-29T14:25:50Z")
Oh, and it’s “Yasser”. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Scud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Tom\_Scud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Scud)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2011, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yazzer-arafat-got-the-nobel-peace-prize/576380/4 "2011-03-29T14:26:52Z")
The Nobel Peace Prize committee has always been willing to award people with a warlike past for acts leading to peace. Theodore Roosevelt was the eighth person to win the prize. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2011, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yazzer-arafat-got-the-nobel-peace-prize/576380/5 "2011-03-29T14:27:14Z")
> **[The Nobel Peace Prize 1994 - NobelPrize.org](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/uncategorized/peace-1994-summary/)** > [@](#): > > The Nobel Peace Prize 1994 was awarded jointly to Yasser Arafat, Shimon Peres and Yitzhak Rabin “for their efforts to create peace in the Middle East.” ---
**Author:** ![spifflog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@spifflog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spifflog)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2011, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yazzer-arafat-got-the-nobel-peace-prize/576380/6 "2011-03-29T15:17:55Z")
So did Obama. Neither one did anything to earn the prize. It’s a PR prize plain and simple. ---
**Author:** ![Icarus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icarus/32/72_2.png) [@Icarus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icarus)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2011, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yazzer-arafat-got-the-nobel-peace-prize/576380/7 "2011-03-29T17:01:06Z")
> [@spifflog](#): > > So did Obama. Neither one did anything to earn the prize. It’s a PR prize plain and simple. Are you the one who defines the criteria for who gets the prize? No? ---
**Author:** ![Ibn\_Warraq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e19b73/32.png) [@Ibn\_Warraq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ibn_Warraq)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2011, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yazzer-arafat-got-the-nobel-peace-prize/576380/8 "2011-03-29T17:24:22Z")
IIRC, Menachem Begin also got it. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2011, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yazzer-arafat-got-the-nobel-peace-prize/576380/9 "2011-03-29T17:27:20Z")
> [@spifflog](#): > > So did Obama. Neither one did anything to earn the prize. It’s a PR prize plain and simple. Whether I like Arafat or not I can at least see why he was awarded the prize jointly with others. However, I still don’t know what Obama was awarded the prize. At least Arafat did something that seemed promising at the time. ---
**Author:** ![scamartistry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/919ad9/32.png) [@scamartistry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scamartistry)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2011, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yazzer-arafat-got-the-nobel-peace-prize/576380/10 "2011-03-29T17:48:33Z")
> [@spifflog](#): > > So did Obama. Neither one did anything to earn the prize. It’s a PR prize plain and simple. Way not to deal with the question at all ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2011, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yazzer-arafat-got-the-nobel-peace-prize/576380/11 "2011-03-29T17:51:40Z")
> [@Tom\_Scud](#): > > The Nobel Peace Prize committee has always been willing to award people with a warlike past for acts leading to peace. Theodore Roosevelt was the eighth person to win the prize. And Kissinger. Famously prompting Tom Lehrer to resign from satire. ---
**Author:** ![scamartistry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/919ad9/32.png) [@scamartistry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scamartistry)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2011, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yazzer-arafat-got-the-nobel-peace-prize/576380/12 "2011-03-29T18:13:10Z")
> [@scamartistry](#): > > Way not to deal with the question at all This is not a thread about Obama, please read the OP again please ---
**Author:** ![Anticounterrevolutionary](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f04885/32.png) [@Anticounterrevolutionary](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anticounterrevolutionary)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2011, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yazzer-arafat-got-the-nobel-peace-prize/576380/13 "2011-03-29T19:17:55Z")
> [@scamartistry](#): > > This is not a thread about Obama, please read the OP again please This is a thread about Arafat as a Nobel Peace Prize recipient. A comparison of people who have also been awarded the prize is reasonable and expected. Strangely, nobody is bitching about Roosevelt being discussed. ---
**Author:** ![Anticounterrevolutionary](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f04885/32.png) [@Anticounterrevolutionary](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anticounterrevolutionary)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2011, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yazzer-arafat-got-the-nobel-peace-prize/576380/14 "2011-03-29T19:38:58Z")
Alfred Nobel’s will stated the Peace prize should be awarded > [@](#): > > “…to the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses.” The prize in 1994 was awarded jointly to Yasser Arafat, Shimon Peres, and Yitzhak Rabin. If it was given to Arafat alone, yeah, that would be insane. The Oslo Accords were signed in 1993, so the ink was still drying when the prize was handed out. The accords were seen to be steps in the right direction and definitely fit the criteria Nobel outlined in his will. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2011, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yazzer-arafat-got-the-nobel-peace-prize/576380/15 "2011-03-29T20:28:35Z")
> [@Anticounterrevolutionary](#): > > Strangely, nobody is bitching about Roosevelt being discussed. Mentioning Roosevelt in this context suggests a passing familiarity with the history of the Peace Prize. Mentioning Obama (and no others) does not. ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2011, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yazzer-arafat-got-the-nobel-peace-prize/576380/16 "2011-03-29T21:49:29Z")
Well, we’re not gonna win it here, are we? ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2011, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yazzer-arafat-got-the-nobel-peace-prize/576380/17 "2011-03-30T00:28:12Z")
> [@Tom\_Scud](#): > > The Nobel Peace Prize committee has always been willing to award people with a warlike past for acts leading to peace. Theodore Roosevelt was the eighth person to win the prize. Do you know WHY Roosevelt won? ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2011, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yazzer-arafat-got-the-nobel-peace-prize/576380/18 "2011-03-30T00:48:03Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > Do you know WHY Roosevelt won? Nuking Hiroshima? Look, Russia had already lost that war. Roosevelt was merely an intermediary for negotiations that acknowledged that fact. He didn’t deserve the Prize any more than some of the other winners have. (Albeit he probably did deserve it more than some other of some of the other winners have. Feels like a baseball Hall of Fame debate.) There is, in fact, some reasonable debate that his actions partially led to WWII in the Orient. (Korea, the Russian evacuation of Manchuria, and so on.) ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2011, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yazzer-arafat-got-the-nobel-peace-prize/576380/19 "2011-03-30T00:56:29Z")
> [@Frank](#): > > > [@Guinastasia](#): > > > > Do you know WHY Roosevelt won? > > Nuking Hiroshima? In what alternate universe did that happen? ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2011, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yazzer-arafat-got-the-nobel-peace-prize/576380/20 "2011-03-30T00:59:23Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > In what alternate universe did that happen? Why did you cut the part of my post that makes it perfectly clear that I know why T.R. won the Prize, and that my first sentence was a joke? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yazzer-arafat-got-the-nobel-peace-prize/576380.md?page=2)