Though I knew Yasser Arafat was dying, I didn't know how I would receive the actual news of his passing. He had been written off so many times in the past, I think I was expecting him to miraculously recover, the ever- defiant survivor. Like most Palestinians, I never knew a world without Arafat. During our darkest hours, he was there, reassuring us that our struggle for freedom would not be forgotten.

I remember the great excitement and pride when my father took me to a local coffee house here in the US in the 1970s to watch Arafat give his famous speech at the UN. I was filled with a pride I had never felt before as a Palestinian. He carried the hopes, dreams and aspirations of the entire Palestinian people when he strode into the general assembly. The world was forced to recognise we were still there, that we would not "just go away".

He symbolised Palestinians right to the end, when Ariel Sharon had him imprisoned in his Ramallah compound. His confinement and Israel's vilification of him, mirrored the daily mistreatment, oppression and vilification of the entire Palestinian people.

It is a sad day for me and for all Palestinians, our loss is great. But his spirit, the spirit of the Palestinian people, will live on.