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In the 1960s and 1970s, Bassam Abu Sharif was involved in a string of Palestinian airline hijackings, and Time magazine once dubbed him the 'face of terror.'

In 1972  he was the subject of an assassination attempt by Mossad after a bomb was planeyed in the book 'the memoirs of Che Guevara', and sent to him.

The attack left him half-blind, deaf in one ear, and almost fingerless.

He later became one of the closest confidants of the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, and one of the most vocal advocates of peace with Israel.

Abu Sharif's latest book, 'Arafat and the Dream of Palestine: An Insider's Account,'reveals many intimate stories from the life of one of the most enigmatic and influential Arab leaders, and weaves them with some of the most momentous political events in the history of the modern Arab world.

This episode of the Riz Khan show aired from Thursday, 18 June, 2009.