Arafat actually fabricated lies in of Israeli atrocities in his effort to persuade American politicians.  Dennis Ross, in his book the Missing Peace p124 (Farrar Straus and Giroux, 2004) wrote:

With Christopher in Amman, in what was his first substantive meeting, Arafat made up stories about Israeli atrocities, he spoke about Israeli violation of sacred commitments; he said he would not be humiliated by Israeli demands; he warned of a looming disaster in the whole region if there was no agreement on December 13...  He was rising out of his chair, literally screaming.