和阿拉伯世界的领导人相比，阿拉法特的在位时间也是最长的，因为他的寿命超过了三任埃及总统（纳吉布、纳赛尔、萨达特，其任期还跨越了穆巴拉克执政的四分之一个世纪 ） 、 五任黎巴嫩总统、三任伊拉克总统、五任阿尔及利亚总统、三任叙利亚总统、三任沙特国王和两任摩洛哥国王，其它国家的领袖就更难望其项背，从美国的艾森豪维尔到布什、法国的戴高乐到希拉克、从中国的毛泽东到继任的三任领导人。
Arafat’s leadership was the most protracted among his counterparts in the Arab World, as he outlived three Egyptian Presidents (Naguib, Nasser, Sadat and spanned all of Mubarak’s quarter of a century), five Lebanese Presidents, three Iraqis, five Algerians, three Syrians, three Saudi Monarchs, and two in Morocco, not to mention other world leaders, from Eisenhower to Bush in the US, from de Gaulle to Chirac in France, and from Maó to three successors in China.