[jmacusa]

The source I had access to claimed he was a blood relative.

[Words Matter]

Yes, I think second cousin.

[Words Matter]

His father was  Abdul al Qudwa (or Kidwa). His mother was Hamida Khalifa Al-Husseini, one of the many cousins of the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Amin El Husseini. Arafat's mother died when he was five years old, and he supposedly spent the next four years of his life with his uncle in Jerusalem.